Middle East Legal Awards Corporate Team of the Year: Hadef & Partners
Full details of the Corporate Team of the Year category at the premier Middle East legal awards
June 07, 2017 at 08:22 AM
2 minute read
(L-R) Awards host Shadia Bseiso; Alan Rodgers, head of banking and finance, and Sadiq Jafar, managing Partner, Dubai, Hadef & Partners; awards judge Mona Hussein, director of legal and compliance, Addidas
Finalists: Al Tamimi & Company (Highly Commended); Baker McKenzie; Clifford Chance; Eversheds Sutherlands; Fichte & Co; Hogan Lovells; Shearman & Sterling; Stephenson Harwood.
Hadef & Partners' corporate team helped the firm pick up its second prize at this year's corporate counsel awards for its work on the first mandatory convertible bond to be approved by the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority.
The team advised the issuer – Abu Dhabi-based insurer ADINC – on the deal, which needed to be deeply subordinated to the insurer's senior debt so the credit rating agency would treat the bond as equity. One hitch: the concept of subordination is not recognised under UAE law. That meant having to devise wording in the bond's documentation that achieved the same result while ensuring it would be approved by the regulator.
The bond was also the first to be issued under the new Commercial Companies Law, which had challenging implications for how the new provisions would be interpreted by regulators and how the bonds would be treated when converted to equity. The firm said the bond's successful issuance was vital to the insurer to boost its capital and maintain its current credit rating, which had been at risk of downgrade.
"This is a substantial and permanent reinforcement of the company's capital adequacy, which we now view as extremely strong," rating agency Standard & Poor's said after the bond was issued.
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Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
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