Hogan Lovells and Mauritian trust company make African hires

Published by: Ben Rigby   at 17/10/2017

Hogan Lovells has hired Arun Velusami to its London finance practice group from Norton Rose Fulbright, while a Mauritian offshore trust company has made a senior legal appointment.

Arun Velusami will be an active member of Hogan Lovells’ global Africa practice, energy and natural resources group, and the infrastructure, energy, resources and projects team, following his hire as a partner from Norton Rose Fulbright in London. His practice is energy focused, having acted for lenders and sponsors for over 14 years on a variety of international energy projects and project financings.

He has particular expertise of power projects in Africa, where he has worked on thermal, solar, wind, biomass and hydropower projects across the continent for developers, lenders and governments.

Power projects and their financing have been a staple of London law firms’ work of late, with Linklaters assisting on a major energy financing deal for Nigeria, while financial institutions, like the African Development Bank, have been keen to ensure such projects like this are well funded.

Finance is also an area in which the firm has had recent successes deal-making, with a recent project finance deal for the power and infrastructure sector of an independent power production project in Mali, in which the firm acted for the lenders and which included both conventional and Islamic tranches of financing.

Spending on the continent’s infrastructure is forecast to reach USD 180 billion by 2025, more than double the amount spent in 2014; a fact underscored in ALB’s recent Special Report on Investment in Africa, produced in association with Hogan Lovells, which noted the importance of investment, finance and market reform in this area.

Adrian Walker, global co-head of the firm’s infrastructure team, stressed the importance of the work, saying in a statement: “We are all about helping our clients improve people’s lives. That means better access to power and infrastructure. The other side of the projects coin is improved return on investor capital which is great for savers and pensioners.”

On Velusami’s arrival, he said: “Arun is a class act and will work closely from London with our world class infrastructure and energy capability. He will be a great fit with our global team.” The firm also recently added to its corporate strength in South Africa with the hire of Sibongile Solombela from Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr to bolster the corporate practice.

NRF, meanwhile, maintains a strong team, with key partners such as Nick Prowse and Madhavi Gosavi. The firm advised Endeavour Energy in its role as sponsor to Amandi Energy on the USD552 million Amandi energy power plant project in 2016 – the only large scale base-load independent power generation project in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve financial close in 2016.

MANAGING IN MAURITIUS

VAM Global, a Luxembourg-based holding company, which manages the Mauritian Administration and Trust Company (MATCO) and operates a funds management business, has appointed Mooneer Salehmohamed to act as managing director of MATCO as well as group general counsel, alongside other boardroom appointments.

Salehmohamed, who will be taking overall charge of MATCO’s head office in Mauritius, will also fulfil marketing, management, and business development functions. He is a qualified barrister in both England and Wales, and Mauritius, with over 10 years of experience in the legal and regulatory field within the financial services industry in the City of London.

Prior to the appointment, Salehmohamed was a non-executive director on the MATCO board. He held legal and regulatory roles at Fleming Family & Partners, Newton Investment Management (a subsidiary of BNY Mellon) and Eaton Vance Management, where he headed the compliance department within the UK, with responsibility for the Singapore office.

Singapore and Mauritius have strong links due to their developing financial services industries, as well as both being regional hubs for private wealth businesses, including trust services, as well as global financial institutions, while acting as corporate hubs for investors seeking a strong legal system and regulatory protections, while preserving both low tax status and the customary discretion afforded to such enterprises. 

Mauritius is well known as an offshore centre for the private wealth industry, where MATCO works to establish, manage and administer companies and trusts, specialising in the needs of clients both going to and from Africa, as part of a global client base. 

General counsel are increasingly undertaking board level positions, alongside management, although it is comparatively rare to also be appointed as managing director, arguably reflecting both the smaller size of companies in the trusts industry, and their personal approach, in comparison to much larger legal departments of FTSE corporates.

Brendan Adams, director of VAM Global, said that Salehmohamed’s expertise in the legal and financial regulatory field “would reinforce our position as one of the leading trust and administration companies in Mauritius”.

Salehmohamed, in turn, said: “MATCO has built its proposition around being a gateway to and from Africa for corporate and individual clients globally.”

“As Mauritius grows in importance as a financial centre that connects Africa to the world, MATCO is well-placed to help clients meet their specific objectives for wealth preservation,” he concluded.