Victor Sameria is a Senior Associate in the firm’s Banking & Finance, Merger & Acquisitions and Fintech Practice Groups.
He graduated with First Class in Law (LLB) and Distinction in Financial Services Law (LLM) from the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom and is admitted to practise in Nigeria.
He has significant experience in advising sponsors, lenders and corporate borrowers on cross-border mandates including corporate, acquisition, leveraged and project finance transactions.
Victor also has several years of experience (including secondment experience at i-Cell Multimedia Limited – Nigeria’s pioneer value added services (VAS) aggregator) in advising some of the biggest global tech companies and FinTechs including Google; Tencent; Amazon; AMEX; PayPal; Stripe; Checkout; TikTok (ByteDance); Facebook (now Meta); YouTube; ByBit; Coinbase; Circle; Yellow Card; Apple; Tidal; Spotify; Kuda; dLocal; EBANX; Sparkle; Netflix; Uber; Western Union; MasterCard etc. His expertise in this regard cuts across payments including cross border remittances and digital assets, digital banking, mobile money, software licensing, e-commerce & marketplaces and telecommunications infrastructure.
A Selection of Relevant Experience
– Advised First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and Afreximbank on a US$1.26 billion financing to the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the development of the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway. The financing was fully underwritten by FAB and Afreximbank, with partial risk mitigation support provided by the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC).
– Advised Heirs Energies Limited, an indigenous upstream oil and gas company and a related company of Heirs Holdings Limited, on an up to US$750 million Reserve-Based Lending (RBL) facility provided by African Export-Import Bank.
– Advised Deutsche Bank in connection with the $747 million financing to the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the development of the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway. The landmark transaction funded the initial 47.47 km phase of the ambitious 700-km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
– Advised a syndicate of banks including SACE and SIMEST in connection with a SACE covered facility of US$480 million in favour of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to finance the acquisition of 24 Leonardo M-346FA (Fighter Attack) light combat and trainer aircraft from the Italian defense firm, Leonardo.
– Advised an assortment of lenders including United Bank for Africa, Zenith Bank, RMB International (Mauritius)/ Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Union Bank of Nigeria, Mauritius Commercial Bank and First City Monument Bank on a US$260 million dual currency senior secured project financing for ANOH Gas Processing Company Limited (AGPC).
– Advised Prime Oil & Gas (formerly Petrobras) in connection with a US$2 billion secured revolving reserve-based lending (RBL) facility.
– Advising a syndicate of lenders including a multilateral financial institution in connection with the restructuring of a US$740 million debt financing to a Nigerian upstream company.
– Advised Mastercard on the Nigerian law aspects of its minority investment of up to US$200 million in MTN Group Fintech – the digital financial services arm of MTN, Africa’s largest mobile network operator.
– Advised global music streaming service company, TIDAL on its partnership with African telecommunications giant, MTN to provide affordable and convenient music streaming services to its Nigerian customers.
– Advised International Finance Corporation (IFC) on its US$20 million financing for mobility fintech company, Moove Africa for the acquisition of up to 1,400 new cars.
– Advised YouTube on its US$100 million Black Voices Fund.
Expertise
Banking & Finance, Media, Entertainment, Technology and Intellectual Property (METI).
