When three leading African and international institutions joined forces to back Uganda’s infrastructure pipeline, the mandate demanded technical precision and rapid, cross-border execution.
Dentons, under the leadership of David Mpanga, assembled a multidisciplinary team comprising experts in banking and finance, energy, and corporate to steer the transaction from structuring and documentation through conditions precedent and disbursement mechanics.
The transaction, involving Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Development Bank of Southern Africa, and Rand Merchant Bank, was announced as having been completed, with the facility’s purpose being squarely developmental.
The money will be channelled in long-term capital into classrooms and clinics, strengthening transport corridors, and accelerating investment in power and water systems.
It aligns with Uganda’s socio-economic transformation agenda by targeting sectors with the highest multiplier effect on productivity, inclusion, and resilience.
Dentons coordinated workstreams across multiple parties and jurisdictions, harmonizing lender requirements with sovereign processes and sector-specific regulatory considerations.
From calibrating risk allocation and covenant design to orchestrating conditions precedent and closing logistics, the firm served as both legal adviser and deal quarterback, keeping the transaction on track to completion.
“This is what our team does best—complex, multi-lender sovereign financing executed with clarity and pace,” says David Mpanga. “The impact will be measured in schools, hospitals, reliable power, safer water, and the growth that follows.”
The deal team
David Mpanga – Chairman and Senior Partner, Dentons
A veteran transactional and disputes lawyer with more than 25 years’ experience, Mpanga is widely recognized for leading complex cross-border mandates.
On this deal, he set the negotiation strategy, led senior stakeholder engagement, and oversaw risk allocation and final approvals.
His core focus spans corporate and commercial matters, projects and structuring, lending, and governance.
His many years in the banking and finance sector, serving both private and public sector clients, were critical in such a multi-disciplinary deal involving different stakeholders.
His practice covers several disciplines, including complex high-value financing transactions (including sovereign lending), as well as the establishment, acquisition, restructuring, reconstitution, and regulatory compliance of a number of banks and financial institutions.
Pearl Nyakabwa – Managing Partner and Head of Banking & Finance and Energy, Dentons
She is known for structuring syndicated and bilateral facilities for lenders and sovereigns, with particular strength in conditions-precedent management and cross-border execution.
Netflix Strikes $82.7 Billion Deal to Take Over Warner Bros., Redefining the Global Entertainment LandscapeIn this transaction, she coordinated the finance documentation suite and drove deliverables to readiness for drawdown, with a practice anchored in banking and finance, energy projects, and DFI-backed sovereign financings.
Her experience in corporate lending, project financing, acquisition financing, and sovereign lending was largely vital in a deal of this magnitude.
She acts for both lenders and borrowers in syndicated and bilateral financings, and she has a particular focus on deal structuring and cross-border financings.
She has acquired vast experience in the banking sector, advising several leading commercial banks and financial institutions such as Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic Bank, Centenary, and I&M Bank
Agatha Etyang – Senior Associate, Dentons
She is a meticulous deal executor in the corporate and commercial team. She has cultivated vast experience in handling corporate and commercial matters with a wide array of transactions that showcase her ability as a tenacious negotiator and a value add to the practice.
In this transaction, she supported documentation, cross-party coordination, and issue-spotting across corporate and regulatory strands, aligning counterparties on timelines and deliverables to maintain a clear path to signing and funding.
Her experience includes mergers and acquisitions, private equity, project development and finance, restructuring and insolvency, intellectual property, and growth and venture matters.
William Wepukhulu – Senior Associate, Dentons
He works across banking and finance, energy and natural resources, and corporate.
He has over four years of experience advising on domestic and multi-jurisdictional transactions, where he advises both investors and businesses on financings, projects, and corporate and regulatory compliance across fintechs, insurance, and renewable energy.
In this transaction, he contributed to the facility agreement, security, and closing mechanics and tracked conditions precedent through completion.
He is a key resource to Dentons’ insights on finance and energy and advises across banking and finance, energy and natural resources, and corporate matters.
A well-deserving transaction
This transaction directs capital to sectors with significant social and economic returns, demonstrates execution at scale in a multi-lender, multi-jurisdictional environment, and signals strong lender confidence in Uganda’s development pipeline and ability to deploy large-scale financing efficiently.
