Finalists: Al Tamimi & Company • Ashurst • Galadari Advocates & Legal Consultants • Latham & Watkins • Shearman & Sterling • White & Case

Lawyers from Allen & Overy's (A&O) Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Paris, Luxembourg and Amsterdam offices all had a hand in providing the legal advice behind the financing of Kuwait's first independent water and power project (IWPP). 

The judges praised the firm for demonstrating "exceptional expertise and teamwork" in closing the unprecedented £800m public-private partnership (PPP) project and noted that the deal set the scene for future private investments in Kuwait's public infrastructure sector. A&O advised Nippon Export and Investment Insurance and a syndicate of commercial banks on the debt financing to fund the construction of the Az-Zour North power plant. 

The PPP project was also the first under Kuwait's privatisation programme, which kicked off in 2008. 

This was a complex and high-profile deal that involved three public stakeholders: the Partnerships Technical Bureau, the Kuwait Investment Authority and the Public Institution for Social Security. 

The deal was complicated by the fact that the competitive bid ran well into the period when transaction documents were being negotiated and the imposition of tighter restrictions on the lenders' security package than in many other GCC jurisdictions.