Commentary: Freshfields winning middle ground in Middle East market
Christmas comes early for magic circle firm after gaining DIC instruction
December 13, 2006 at 07:03 PM
3 minute read
Hardly a day goes by without some law firm shouting about its Dubai capability. Mandates, hires, launches – it can be difficult to know which firm really is performing well.
One firm for which Christmas has come slightly early, however, is Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which has secured a strong run of investment mandates coming from the region in the last year.
Less than two years after opening in Dubai, the magic circle firm has landed its third major instruction for one of the region's most active investors in foreign assets, the investment arm of Dubai's ruling family – Dubai International Capital (DIC).
The firm is advising on DIC's current high-profile £450m bid for Liverpool Football Club and took the lead advisory role on the client's acquisitions of the Travelodge hotel chain for £675m and engineering company Doncasters for £700m during the last 12 months. The firm is also understood to be advising in relation to a potential £20m bid for Tranmere Rovers FC.
This might not sound like that much for Freshfields bearing in mind the magic circle firm has taken the lion's share of Europe's biggest multibillion-pound transactions of 2006, but rivals are already jealously pointing at the growing relationship.
This is not least because DIC – part of Dubai Holding – is expected to be one of the most active buy-out operations in the coming year. In addition to the DIC mandates, Freshfields also advised another Dubai Holding company, Dubai International Properties, on a $12bn (£6.1bn) property development deal in Morocco earlier this year.
Of course, competition remains fierce for work from Dubai Holding and the Middle Eastern giant is known to spread work around. Clifford Chance is a regular adviser to another Dubai Holdings subsidiary, Jumeirah, which it advised in September on the development of a £600m landmark building set to be built on the riverfront in Southwark.
Meanwhile, Linklaters advised Dubai Holding on its £800m acquisition of the Tussauds Group in early 2005. Then again, that was before Freshfields entered the fray.
Freshfields – nervous of trumpeting such success for a new client – attributes the deals to "luck". Still, it is a run of mandates that has made the firm's rivals take note – and peer recognition is something no amount of shouting from the roof tops can generate.
Piling on the pounds at Christmas
Christmas is going to be more pricey than normal for partners with US firms in London. The sliding dollar means there are more than a few unhappy faces right now as partners paid in dollars see their take-home package reduced.
They might not be receiving visits from the bailiffs just yet, but it has to hurt – particularly as many will have moved from UK firms for bigger salaries only to see the gap close. Unsurprising then that many will be pushing New York to bring in pay guarantees to protect them if there is further decline.
It isn't all bad news though. US-based partners at UK firms are understandably upbeat. Not only are costs reduced but relatively junior partners are suddenly enjoying million-dollar salaries.
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