TANJIB ALAM & ASSOCIATES

The firm: Tanjib Alam and Associates was founded by Tanjib-ul Alam, advocate (Supreme Court of Bangladesh) in 2009, who is also the head of chambers. Mr Alam has been practising before the Supreme Court of Bangladesh since 1999. In his 19 years of practice, Mr Alam has gained an excellent reputation and has recieved praise from judges, lawyers and clients. Mr Alam was involved in drafting the Bangladesh Telecommunication Act, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Act and the Information and Communication Technology Act for Bangladesh. He has recently completed his consultancy for drafting the new Companies Act for Bangladesh. It is anticipated that the proposed legislation will bring much needed reform in the corporate law of Bangladesh creating opportunities to attract foreign direct investment. He has worked as consultant to the World Bank and UNDP on various law reform issues involving the separation of judiciary.

From the creation of the firm, Mr Alam has trained and supervised a set of competent lawyers who now work as associates of the firm. As of today, the firm advises and represents hundreds of clients from Bangladesh and abroad, including the world’s top law firms on the laws of Bangladesh. Since its inception in 2009, the firm has grown rapidly in terms of both lawyers and clientele. At present, the firm serves a rich clientele in almost all sectors of business and commerce with a predominant focus on energy, telecommunication, cross border financing, direct foreign investment and corporate matters.

Areas of practice: Tanjib Alam and Associates is a leading law firm in Bangladesh for commercial arbitration, merger and acquisition, energy project, telecommunication, private equity, loan syndication, foreign direct investment, admiralty and international trade. The firm has recently advised a leading steel conglomerate in Bangladesh and prepared the legal documents to obtain financing facilities worth US$90m, and advised and prepared all relevant legal documents for the transfer of a US$122.43m syndication facility to a leading power generation company – only to mention some of its work in the financial sector. As a leader in M&A, the firm acted as legal advisor and counsel to Robi Axiata Limited on its acquisition of Airtel Bangladesh Limited under a merger scheme. While acting as the legal advisor, the firm carried out legal due diligence and prepared the documentation concerning the merger and acquisition. As the counsel for the merging companies the firm also obtained approval of the scheme from the High Court Division. The merger between Robi and Airtel was the largest merger in the history of Bangladesh. Tanjib Alam and Associates have also advised on several other high-value mergers including the merger of three leading steel manufacturers in Bangladesh, and the merger between three of the leading power generation companies in Bangladesh.

With regards to dispute resolution, the firm has advised and represented a leading rice importer at the London GAFTA Arbitration for a high-value repudiation claim, and represented several leading conglomerates in the energy sector at BERC Arbitration in recent years. Under the leadership of Mr Alam, the firm has successfully defended a foreign arbitration claim worth US$10m brought by International Cotton Association against a cotton importer, and has advised one of the biggest telecom operators in the world regarding a dispute with one of its vendors under a contract worth US$78m.

The firm has also advised many local and multinational corporations in the telecoms, power and infrastructure sectors and assisted in preparing security documents, investment agreements, power purchase and implementation agreements as well as in turnkey and EPC contracts. The firm has recently been confirmed as the official legal partner for the China-Bangladesh Investment Forum 2017 held in Beijing, China.

The head of the chamber, Mr Tanjib-ul Alam, is regarded as one of the leading corporate and constitutional law practitioners in Bangladesh with expertise in corporate finance, energy, telecommunication and infrastructure projects. He has been involved in a number of ground-breaking project finance and IPOs in Bangladesh including securitisation of the first ever micro-credit transaction in the world and the largest IPO of GrameenPhone.