Finalists: Al Tamimi & Company • Afridi & Angell • Allen & Overy • Bin Shabib & Associates • Dentons • Shearman & Sterling

Clifford Chance (CC) secured Corporate Team of the Year for its work advising Sorouh Real Estate on its merger with Aldar Properties. The merger is one of the largest ever M&A transactions in the Middle East and has created the largest listed real estate developer in Abu Dhabi and the second largest real estate developer in the UAE, with combined total assets of around AED46bn (£7.5bn). 

A five-partner team led by Mohammed Al-Shukairy advised on this landmark deal – the first statutory all-share merger to take place in the UAE. As such, it contained many novel elements prompting CC to team up with Aldar's advisers, Allen & Overy, to make the documents publicly available, due to their precedent-setting nature.