Chiagozie Hilary-Nwokonko is a Partner at Streamsowers & Köhn. He also heads the Firm’s Energy and Natural Resources and Legislative Advocacy Groups. Chiagozie graduated from the University of Cambridge, England in 1986 and initially trained as a Marketing Management Trainee with Unilever Plc in the United Kingdom. He was called to the Nigerian Bar as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1991. Chiagozie was also a United Kingdom Government Chevening Scholar at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy of the University of Dundee, Scotland.
Chiagozie is regarded as being in the top rank of Nigerian solicitors, combining intellectual depth with commercial nous. Chiagozie has dealt extensively with issues of Nigerian Foreign Investment and Corporate Law, General Commercial Law, Oil and Gas, Environmental Law, Mining Law, Construction Law and Taxation.
Chiagozie has acted as team leader in several notable energy transactions, one of which was the listing of an oil and gas company on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange in 2012, which was the largest listing of an oil and gas company at the time.
Chiagozie is a member of the Section on Energy and Natural Resources Law of the International Bar Association and the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators.
Michael Humphries has over 30 years of experience in the international oil and gas industry and investment banking. He began his career in the international department at Britoil PLC. Subsequently he worked as an energy banker at Samuel Montagu & Co. in the London and New York; as corporate development director at Great Western Resources Inc., a Houston based energy company; and as a director at PFC Energy Inc., a Washington DC based energy consultancy firm.
In 1995, Michael joined the Washington DC office of N M Rothschild & Sons as a Director in the Natural Resources Group focused on cross border M&A and advisory mandates. In 2005, until 2008, he worked for Ferris, Baker Watts, Inc. where he started an Energy Investment Banking Group, originating and structuring cross-border oil and gas transactions.
In 2009, until its merger with a Canadian public company in June 2010, Michael was CFO and a director of Amber Petroleum Ltd. a private oil and gas company with assets in Nigeria and the Joint Development Zone. From 2005 to 2014 Michael ran a private energy consulting practice, Redcliff Energy Advisors LLC that provided a range of strategic advisory services to oil and gas companies and resource focused investment funds, with a particular focus on Nigeria.
In late 2014, Michael was appointed Head of Oil & Gas Advisory at Rand Merchant Bank where he successfully built the bank’s oil & gas advisory franchise advising both international and indigenous E&P companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. He left RMB in late 2018 and re-established Redcliff Energy Advisors Ltd providing strategic advice to international and indigenous upstream companies operating in Africa and with a specific focus on Nigeria.
Mr. Humphries holds a B.A. (Hons) in Politics and Modern History from the University of Sheffield and a M.Sc. (Econ) in International Relations from The London School of Economics.
Marc Hammerson is a senior corporate lawyer with deep experience in complex transactions in the energy and natural resources sectors in Africa.
Marc represents clients on all aspects of the oil & gas and power industries, his experience includes giving transactional advice on corporate, M&A, commercial agreements (such as gas sales agreements and power purchase agreements), project finance and restructuring.
He represents investors, corporates and state-owned entities in a range of transactions including M&A, joint ventures, project finance and project development.
One of the world’s leading energy lawyers (Who’s Who Legal, 2020 and previous editions), Mr. Hammerson is listed as an Overseas Expert for Nigeria by Chambers 2020, which praises him as “an excellent lawyer” and for “the speed of his response”. He has been recognised by both Chambers and Legal 500 for many years for his experience in oil & gas, restructuring and for his work in Africa. Clients say, “When I have an oil and gas question, he's my first port of call” (Chambers, 2017).
Marc has a wealth of experience in advising national oil companies and partially state-owned oil companies internationally, notably but not exclusively in emerging markets.
Timi Balogun, former development bank partner, brings a wealth of experience in infrastructure development in Africa, with particular focus in Nigeria.
Timi focuses his practice on project finance and infrastructure development, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. He has a particular breadth of experience in both the development and financing of African infrastructure projects. Before joining Curtis, he spent six years as General Counsel for The Infrastructure Bank Plc (formerly the Urban Development Bank of Nigeria Plc) in Abuja, where he oversaw all aspects of the bank’s work supporting key infrastructure projects in Nigeria and beyond, with a focus on funding commercially viable projects with significant developmental impact.
Timi's extensive experience encompasses the legal aspects of The Infrastructure Bank’s products including development loans, project finance advisory and arranging, proprietary equity, fund management, capacity building and technical assistance, in the areas of transportation infrastructure; mass housing and district development; power and renewable energy projects; solid waste management; municipal common services; and water provision.