Abreu Advogados has continued its investment in the Portuguese-speaking African market with the announcement of a partnership with the Guinea-Bissau law firm Armindo Serqueira.

The partnership will see Armindo Serqueira link up with Abreu’s Guinea-Bissau desk, which is made up of Portugal-based Abreu partners Manuel Santos Vítor and Maria Inês Assis. It is the latest addition to the firm’s international network in Portuguese-speaking countries, which includes Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Brazil, China-Macau and East Timor as well as its offices in Lisbon, Porto and Madeira.

Vítor commented: "The growth of the African market and the fact that Guinea-Bissau belongs to the West African Economic and Monetary Union provide an attractive ground for investors and companies. For us it was essential to be present in this market and corresponding to the requests of our clients."

Armindo Serqueira’s team includes firm founder Armindo Serqueira and lawyers Marisa Adriano Augusto Lima Pires, Amarildo Desejado Araújo, Domingos Pereira and Elisio Cali. The firm is recognised in West Africa for advising foreign investors operating in Guinea Bissau, with local companies, government agencies and private clients among its roster.

Serqueira described Abreu Advogados as a “prestigious” law firm, adding “we are very pleased with the partnership agreement we have signed. Guinea-Bissau has been standing out in the Africa for its investment opportunities and I believe this joint performance will allow an excellent service and strategic contribution to the clients of both firms.”

Sectors the two firms are targeting for inward investment include energy, construction, fishing and agro-industry.

Other firms looking to West Africa include Dentons, which earlier this year agreed to combine with Nigerian practice Adepetun Caxton-Martins Agbor & Segun, making it only the second global law firm with a presence in Africa’s largest economy.

And in June, four law firms across North and West Africa announced they had merged with the ambition of helping to develop the ‘continent’s next generation of lawyers’ by creating a fully integrated African law firm focused on Francophone countries.

ADNA has offices in Algeria, Morocco, Guinea and Ivory Coast, bringing together respectively Bourabiat Associés, BFR & Associés, SD Avocats and EMIRE Partners.