Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) is pleased to announce that it has won the Africa Deal of the Year Award at The Asset’s Triple A Sustainable Infrastructure Awards for its work advising the Republic of Guinea on the US$24bn Simandou project, the world’s largest mining and related rail and port infrastructure project.
This is the third award that the Simandou project has won, having also been named Impact Deal of the Year at the IFLR Africa Awards 2025 and China Business Law Journal Projects Deal of the Year 2024.
Based in Hong Kong, The Asset is a well-known business news and research organisation, delivering authoritative, unbiased and independent coverage on Asia’s financial sector. The Asset Triple A Sustainable Infrastructure Awards recognise the most dynamic corporations, institutions, individuals and deals that are transforming their respective sectors and industries worldwide.
The WFW team that advised Guinea on the Simandou project was led by Dubai Projects Partner Alhassane Barry and Mining Lead and London Corporate Partner Jan Mellmann. It comprised twenty-four lawyers from the firm’s Dubai, London, New York and Paris offices with expertise spanning corporate and M&A, project financing, ESG, BOT/concession, construction, procurement and O&M, competition and tax, leveraging the firm’s wealth of expertise across its core sectors of energy, infrastructure and transport.
Alhassane and Jan commented: “We are delighted that The Asset has recognised the national importance of Simandou to Guinea as it strengthens the decarbonisation of its steel industry, helping combat global climate change and contribute to Africa’s clean energy transition”.
