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International Edition

Norton Rose set for fourth Middle East office launch

Norton Rose is set to open its fourth office in the Middle East after securing a licence to open in Abu Dhabi. The launch will see Middle East managing partner Campbell Steedman relocating to the region to head the practice.The top 10 City firm is to open the new office imminently, having been granted the licence last week after a lengthy wait.
2 minute read

International Edition

Eversheds secures Abu Dhabi debut

Eversheds has been granted a licence to launch a new office in Abu Dhabi and is targeting an opening within the next couple of weeks. The office will be run by commercial specialist Chris Jobson, who becomes managing partner for the Middle East, having previously headed up the Qatar office. The office will be staffed by two additional partners - City real estate chief John Kemkers and corporate partner Kuljit Ghata-Aura, both of whom are relocating from London - plus two associates and one further solicitor.
2 minute read

International Edition

CC sends new Dubai finance partner to Riyadh

Clifford Chance (CC) has moved to strengthen its presence in Saudi Arabia with the relocation of a senior finance lawyer from Dubai. Mohamed Hamra-Krouha, who is set to become a partner from 1 May, switched from CC's Dubai arm last month to join the firm's Saudi ally, Al Jadaan & Partners.
2 minute read

International Edition

Eversheds enters Africa with Jo'burg tie-up

Eversheds has secured its first presence in Africa following after agreeing a tie-up with South African firm Routledge Modise. The agreement, which goes live today (14 April), brings the Johannesburg-based practice, which has 60 partners, under the Eversheds International banner.
2 minute read

International Edition

Middle East and India: Money talks

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have dominated the headlines of recent weeks after buying stakes in US investment banks hit by write-downs of billions of dollars. The $7.5bn (£3.7bn) equity investment by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) in Citi is a notable example. Two weeks ago the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation broadened its reach by investing A1bn (£788m) in a company controlled by Italy's Benetton family. Many of the state-owned SWFs, such as the Kuwait Investment Authority, have in fact been in existence for half a century or more. However, the spotlight has only really been focused on these funds in the past two or three years. This is primarily due to the abundance of super liquidity arising from the spike in the price of commodities, most notably oil (up from $10 (£5) a barrel in 1990 to $100 (£50) or so now) but also the steady decline in the dollar, which has had a marked impact on the fortunes of China and other east Asian countries.
6 minute read

International Edition

Middle East and India: Private equity, public gain

The founder of one of the world's leading private equity managers was recently quoted as saying that private equity may be moving from a 'golden age' to a 'purgatory age', with a humorous tone. While this may be somewhat the case in the West, private equity is booming in the Middle East. It is one of the fastest-growing sources for business funding in the region, thanks to surging oil prices, a local real estate boom, the growing sophistication of Middle Eastern investors and Western institutions seeking new emerging markets. Industries and infrastructure are rapidly privatising and, according to a September 2007 report from the Middle East Economic Digest, there is an estimated $1.5trn (£750bn) of infrastructure and industrial projects currently planned or underway in the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC). According to Zawya, a Middle East business information provider, private equity funds devoted to investing in the Middle East and northern Africa grew from $316m (£158m) in 2004 to $5.2bn (£2.6bn) in 2006. Private equity funds formed in the Middle East with commitments of more than $1bn (£500m), and even $2bn (£1bn) when targeting the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region, are now part of the fundraising landscape with a broadened investor base that includes European and US capital.
7 minute read

International Edition

Middle East and India: Bridging the Gulf

Kuwait has long been a trading post, a hub where the markets of modern Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other territories could easily be accessed by Arabian Gulf transportation. The renowned Greek ruins on the Kuwaiti Island of Faylaka suggest that it was an active hub for trading between the Mediterranean and Eastern worlds more than 2,000 years ago. Local Kuwaiti goods were largely limited to sponges and pearls until the early 1900s. The granting of a major oil concession in 1934 to the joint venture between the predecessors of British Petroleum and Chevron, and the discovery of oil in 1938, led to the export of Kuwaiti oil after World War II and the resulting sea change in the Kuwaiti economy over the next half-century.
9 minute read

International Edition

Middle East and India: Rules of the game

Corporate governance is the buzzword nowadays within the business community in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), thanks to a host of initiatives undertaken by the federal government. The corporate governance movement in the UAE has been growing since 2004, when the Abu Dhabi Securities Market conducted a review of the existing framework and issued a draft code of corporate governance. In 2006, corporate governance received a massive boost when Hawkamah, the Institute for Corporate Governance, was established in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). In April last year, the Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority (ESCA) introduced the first-ever binding code of corporate governance targeting public companies, giving those companies a three-year window to comply with the code. The Ministry of Economy followed suit in December when it issued a draft code of corporate governance, this time targeting private joint stock companies (which are a modified version of the English limited liability company).
7 minute read

International Edition

Middle East and India: Right as Bahrain

It seems that barely a day passes without another Middle Eastern state announcing that it is to develop a centre devoted to the financial services industry and proclaiming its intention to be the 'financial services hub of the Middle East'. In a manner reminiscent of the fable of the tortoise and the hare, the Kingdom of Bahrain has, meanwhile, been quietly but methodically overhauling its legal and regulatory framework for financial services with a view to providing a comprehensive, straightforward and user-friendly platform upon which banks, funds, insurance companies and other participants in the financial services market can establish a presence in Bahrain and operate cost-effectively and competitively, while adhering to international best practice.
7 minute read

International Edition

Sovereign funds to drive '08 M&A - report

Sovereign wealth funds and a rise in corporate defaults are likely to drive M&A activity over the next 12 months, according to new research published by Mergermarket. The latest Global M&A and Debt Market Outlook survey of US and European executives and advisers found 64% of respondents predicting an increase in corporate defaults. Seventy percent expected such a rise in the US, with 50% anticipating an increase in Europe over the same period.
2 minute read

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