Baker & McKenzie has met with six leading firms in Nigeria in recent weeks as part of efforts to cement referral relationships in the country.

A team of three lawyers, headed by EMEA chair Koen Vanhaerents, visited Lagos last month to meet the firms. Bakers is targeting work in Nigeria as a major plank of its Africa strategy.

"We wanted to take a look at the market in a structured way," Vanhaerets told Legal Week at the firm's EMEA meeting in Dubai, where partners from 20 of Bakers' African preferred firms also attended .

"We saw six of the top firms in the market and were really impressed with the business saviness and technical quality of the lawyers there."

Five of the firms in the group – understood to include Aelex and Aluko & Oyebode – also attended Bakers' EMEA meeting last week.

There is no suggestion the meetings will lead to formal alliances or exclusive arrangements at this stage, given this would lead to referral conflicts for the Nigerian firms.

"There is not one major firm in the market that covers all areas," said corporate partner Peter Strivens, who accompanied Vanhaerets and fellow London partner Frances Okosi for the meetings.

"[But] there are some particularly strong tax, capital markets, M&A and project finance teams within that group."

Last year Okosi was part of a London-based team that advised West Africa's leading cellular telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria, on a $3bn loan, secured from seventeen Nigerian banks and five global financial institutions.

For that deal, Bakers partnered with Aluko & Oyebode, which advised on Nigerian law.

The international firm currently has African offices in Casablanca, Cairo and Johannesburg, which opened in 2012.

One Bakers source said they expect formal alliances between Nigerian firms and international outfits after presidential elections due to be held next year.