19/10/2011 (Insider Media) - Solicitors from the Exeter and London offices of Michelmores LLP have played a lead legal role in a $20m (£12.68m) investment in Goldtree, a palm oil plantation and milling project in Sierra Leone.

Goldtree buys fresh fruit from 8,000 outgrowers for processing into crude palm oil.

The investment will fund the re-establishment of the plantation's commercial operations and the construction of a new mill – the first commercial crude palm oil mill to operate in Sierra Leone since the civil war, Michelmores said.

The project, which has the backing of the Sierra Leone government, aims to provide a boost to the country's economy, as well as providing employment and training opportunities and improved infrastructure.

Michelmores partner Joe Whitfield, assisted by Henry Taylor, advised on the $20m investment.

The money was provided by the sponsors and two investment funds: the African Agriculture Fund and the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation.