Finalists: Bowman Gilfillan • Gabinete Legal Mocambique/PLMJ • Slaughter and May • Webber Wentzel • Werksmans

The Commercial Team of the Year was awarded to Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) in recognition of its work advising Danone on its ground-breaking co-investment with a private equity fund to purchase one of West Africa's largest distributors of milk products and juices.

It is the first deal of its kind to take place in Africa, and although the value of the transaction is confidential it is thought to be one of the largest M&A deals of 2013 (excluding the energy and natural resources sectors) and one of the largest ever involving a private equity fund in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa).

The deal saw the creation of a joint venture (JV) between Abraaj (51%) and Danone (49%) to acquire Fan Milk International. Under the terms of the JV agreement, over the next few years Danone will gradually acquire a controlling stake in Fan Milk. This type of co-investment was completely new in Africa and had the advantages of reducing the acquisition cost for Abraaj while allowing Danone to enter several West African countries at the same time and also benefit from Abraaj's experience investing in Africa.

HSF advised Danone alongside firms in Luxemburg and Denmark, as well as a number of African law firms in Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Togo. It was HSF's first instruction from the client, which it has subsequently advised on several other matters; a testament to the client's satisfaction.