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International African firm Asafo & Co adds Paris firm Stork Avocats to further grow an Africa-focused powerhouse
Sharing an ambition to build a stronger bridge between international capital and sustainable African opportunities, Asafo & Co and Africa-focused French firm Stork Avocats have today announced their merger, with Nicolas Jean and his talented team integrating into Asafo & Co’s ‘exceptional platform’ in Paris.
Combining his Paris-based firm Stork Avocats with international African firm ASAFO & CO continues a long journey of working to support projects and reforms shaping Africa’s economic and institutional future, and is a natural next step in a shared vision to build the first truly global law firm dedicated to Africa, says Nicolas Jean.
The two law firms have announced their merger, with Jean’s talented Stork Avocats’ team of himself, partners Perrine Delandre and Aurélien de Castéja, and associates Yasmin Chebaro and Jean-Etienne Guitard set to bolster ASAFO & CO’s Paris office.
The combination further strengthens ASAFO & CO’s standing in major projects and transformative transactions across the continent, particularly Francophone Africa.
Pascal Agboyibor, Managing Partner of ASAFO & CO, shared his delight at welcoming the Stork Avocats team, which “significantly strengthens” the international African firm’s overall capabilities, to the benefit of clients.
“Nicolas Jean will join the firm’s global governance team, further enhancing our strategic leadership and our ability to serve clients throughout the Continent and beyond,“ said Agboyibor, who co-founded ASAFO & CO in early 2019, with a vision of a truly Pan-African law firm, combining international standards with local expertise.
“With this recruitment, we also aim to accelerate the deployment of the Paris office’s services to French and European players expanding into East and Southern Africa.”
ASAFO & CO has more than 150 legal professionals across offices in Paris, Abidjan, Casablanca, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Mombasa, Washington DC, and London.
Jean has regularly ranked among the top 10 in Jeune Afrique’s list of the 100 most influential business lawyers in French-speaking Africa. He and Delandre (project development, public contracts, and public-private partnerships), de Castéja (bank and structured debt financing, fund structuring) and their team advise African and international investors, industry players, governments, and state-owned entities on major projects across Africa in the agriculture, energy, real estate, infrastructure, natural resources, tourism, public sector, and digital economy sectors, as well as on legislative and regulatory reforms involving sovereignty considerations.
This new chapter accelerates the vision the ASAFO & CO founders set in motion of building the first truly international law firm dedicated to Africa, says the firm.
The move fully aligns with ASAFO & CO’s development strategy, bolstering its large Africa-focused team in Paris, and its ability to handle large-scale mandates in collaboration with the firm’s five African offices, and support major corporations, international lenders, governments, and public entities on strategic projects.
“Combining our firms will enable us to continue the journey we began with Stork Avocats and to fulfil a shared vision: contributing to the development of the first global law firm dedicated to Africa and bringing together the best talent to better serve our clients and respond to their evolving needs,” said Jean. “On a personal level, this decision was also shaped by my meeting with Pascal Agboyibor and his partners, with whom we share a common development strategy, values, and goals.”