Deals of the year 2007: Nigeria clears the decks

Santander’s Italian disposal is the Real deal
AstraZeneca injects hope
Big bet pays off for Fortis

GCA reaches out to buy US peer
Maxis maxes out
Mexico motors on local-currency deal
Bovespa floats on the wave it made

Technically, the resolution of Nigeria’s London Club debt, advised by Citi, started at the end of 2006, although it was completed in 2007. Events are never entirely straightforward in Nigeria, a country that moves to its own beat and timescale – just ask anyone who has been for a meeting in Lagos.

Moreover, you could argue that concluding a London Club deal was just the final part of a jigsaw that took nearly eight years to complete. According to Greg Makoff, managing director and head of emerging markets liability management at Citi in New York, there is no other way to look at it.

"President Obasanjo retained a single-minded focus on debt relief and normalization of international economic relations during his two administrations," he says.