Commenting on the recognition, Douglas Oppong, Founder and CEO of Property Investor Africa said: "Doing business in Africa can be a mine field. However, with Property Investor Africa, investors wanting to enter Africa's lucrative real estate market can be assured that all the 'I's' will be dotted and all the 'T's' will be crossed, in our bid to ensure that direct capital investment flows into Africa's real estate sector. Our aim is to enhance business activity in Africa and to ensure our clients obtain good returns from the vast real estate opportunities available on the continent. Peter Petrou's work over the last 12 months has been exceptional and has been towards achieving this goal."
Peter Petrou is a lawyer based in London, who has undertaken several real estate transactions globally. He started his career at a leading US law firm where he joined their capital markets department. His main practice initially involved advising investment banks and blue chip clients on a wide range of equity, equity-linked and debt capital market transactions, including IPOs and stock market listings. He always had a strong interest in real estate and assisted several real estate clients with raising finance for various projects. He decided that he wanted to focus more on property-related matters and joined international law firm, Trowers & Hamlins LLP, where he focused primarily on property transactions for clients predominantly based in the UK, Middle-East and Africa.
After five years at Trowers & Hamlins LLP and due to the demands of his contacts and clients in Africa, Russia, Ukraine, India, Middle East, UK, Greece, Cyprus and US, he decided to launch his own law firm, Aspen Morris. Petrou has built up formidable high-level contacts throughout Africa and has also assisted investors and large developers and construction companies to break into the lucrative African market.
His tenacious and say no attitude have seen him not only become one of the youngest managing partners of a law firm in the UK, he was recently appointed to the prestigious role of vice president of the American International Commercial Arbitration Court, and sits on the board of several international companies where he provides advice on strategy and legal matters.
Petrou said, "I am delighted to have been awarded this award from Property Investor Africa. I have believed in Africa for many years in particular countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Angola, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Gabon, to name a few, where their domestic markets have shown substantial growth. Several of my investor and real estate clients have come to me and expressed their frustration that their domestic markets are no longer offering the financial returns that they had once enjoyed. These clients are now focusing on lucrative opportunities throughout Africa, where the returns are substantial and I have assisted them in relation to achieving their goals."
He added, "There is an interesting trend where over the last 12 months, I have been approached by investors and companies in Africa who have the financial clout to enter the UK real estate market in order to undertake substantial transactions. This shows that investors and companies from Africa are not only focusing on their continent, however they see the UK as an interesting proposition in order to provide them with a good return and to enhance their international real estate portfolios."
