In recent months, Martin Skovbjerg and Nikolaj Juhl Hansen have joined as new partners at DreistStorgaard, and one of the strategic focus areas behind the recruitments is to be able to support our customers in connection with transactions and trade with foreign countries.
Martin and Nikolaj both have extensive experience in this area, and both have more than 20 years of process-managed legal advice abroad, e.g. company acquisitions, entering into strategic partnerships and commercial agreements, handling disputes, rolling out compliance programs, etc.
In this context, DreistStorgaard are members of the International Bar Association, so that we thus have a finely meshed network of lawyer connections locally as well as members of the more commercially focused organizations such as the British Chamber of Commerce and the Danish-Chinese Business Forum.
As Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced in connection with the update of the foreign policy strategy, a lot is currently happening on the African continent, and many Danish companies are opening their eyes to the business opportunities. With this development as a background, DreistStorgaard has entered into a partnership with the Africa Innovation Network , which is a network organization for Nordic companies with a focus on Africa ( Read more ). AIN advises, among other things, on business models, geographic selection of markets and entering into partnerships.
Martin Skovbjerg has previously, as long-standing chief legal officer at Welltec, worked with African matters and has experience with transactions, cross-border tax matters, handling anti-corruption programs, project implementation and general business development in a large number of countries including Libya, Algeria, Mauritania, Gabon, Nigeria, Angola, South Africa, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, DR Congo, Ghana and Sao Tome & Principe.
During his time at the English law firms Travers Smith and Eversheds Sutherland, Nikolaj Juhl Hansen has been responsible for a wide range of legal advisory tasks in the Middle East and Africa, and is currently working with several clients who are in the process of rolling out their business on the African continent .
DreistStorgaard’s managing partner Svend-Aage Dreist Hansen says:
“With the recruitment of Martin and Nikolaj, we are working strategically to focus on helping our customers around the world. It has previously been Europe, the USA and Asia that have been in focus, but we believe that in the coming years there will be a lot of focus on Africa as a place where business opportunities are lined up, including in the energy and infrastructure area and it fits well with the focus we have in our new energy team. We have two strong profiles in Africa with Martin and Nikolaj, so the partnership with Africa Innovation Network makes an incredible amount of sense.“
The first time DreistStorgaard participates in an event under the auspices of the Africa Innovation Network is on 8 June when “Funding Your Business in Africa – Today’s financing opportunities” ( Link to the event here ) is on the programme.
Interested clients and other contacts can write to Martin ( mask@dslaw.dk ) or Nikolaj ( njh@dslaw.dk ) if the event is of interest.