Ibrahim & Partners

IBRAHIM & PARTNERS is an independent MENA-region law firm, led by managing partner, Ahmed Ibrahim, and is comprised of a team of lawyers that are experts in advising on all aspects of UAE law. They advise both local and international companies on a full range of issues from contentious and non-contentious corporate and commercial matters, including major project work, establishing, and conducting business across the Emirates, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, equity capital market, legal due diligence, employment matters, property, structuring, data protection, distributions and franchise arrangements.

Their Abu Dhabi and Dubai offices are also well placed to provide local legal support across the GCC. They have expanded their regional footprint to cover Egypt, KSA, Kuwait and Lebanon. The firm is organized into four regional practice groups including corporate and M&A, capital markets, finance and projects and dispute resolution.

Almost all of their UAE office is fully bilingual including legal, paralegal and support staff (English/Arabic) with several trilingual members (French), and they possess over 10 to 20 years of experience amongst them. They have enhanced their English and US law capabilities by having senior members of their corporate commercial team who are qualified to advise on English and US laws, giving the clients both civil and common law competences.

The capital markets team is the most active capital markets team in the UAE, having led almost all the IPOs and rights issue which have taken place in the UAE, including two UAE issuers listed on London Stock Exchange. Dubbed as “the UAE ECM guru” by Chambers & Partners and “the first choice when it comes to UAE IPOs”, Ahmed Ibrahim has a second-to-none and hands-on capital markets experience and continues to maintain his ranking by Chambers Global as a leading individual for 6 consecutive years and up to this day in the UAE and the Middle East by being ranked as Band 1 capital markets lawyer in the UAE and Band 3 capital markets lawyer in the Middle East.

The corporate and M&A practice group’s primary goal is to provide services to a wide range of local, regional, and international companies. The UAE team has in a short span of time been part of large-scale M&As across the various Emirates, the region and globally. The M&A team, led by the Partner Malack El Masry, is one of the most active in public acquisitions in the UAE with members of the team having led many acquisitions and disposals of private and public joint stock companies, which is rare in the UAE being that most companies are formed as limited liability companies. These transactions are very specific in nature and require a different set of qualifications and experience giving the team unrivalled expertise of these transactions. They are also active in advising a variety of clients in private merger and acquisition transactions involving UAE companies with operations in the UAE and abroad, in various sectors and different regions. Further, they are the preferred local counsel of many international/magic circle law firms and banks in their cross border and local M&A transactions.

The finance & projects team has considerable experience in the region and provides invaluable assistance to their clients in the UAE.

Their litigation/disputes practice, led by partner Mohamed Abd El Rehiem, extends to many industries, including banking, finance, insurance, real estate, construction, employment, technology, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, retail, government contracts and healthcare. Their Partners and litigators, across the offices’ jurisdictions, are highly experienced in handling large and complex investigations and claims, both domestically and internationally, and are regularly instructed by some of the largest financial institutions in relation to their most substantial and sensitive disputes. They are equally comfortable litigating before all UAE courts in the seven Emirates, DIFC courts and ADGM courts as well. Additionally, the team brings in a wealth of specialised experience in transnational organised crime, financial crime, Anti Money Laundering and international judicial cooperation via their track record and previous position such as senior prosecutors. Their team regularly advises on and provide training in relation to compliance, corporate governance, GDPR, FCPA, AML and UK Anti Bribery and works closely with governmental agencies and law enforcement authorities in relation to those areas which brings tremendous value to the clients.

It is also worth mentioning the tax practice is led by Abdelhamid Attallah, who is one of the most experienced and well-regarded tax experts in the region with more than 35 years of experience. Mr. Attallah has worked as a senior tax partner at KPMG and a regional tax chief of other multinational conglomerates.

IBRAHIM & PARTNERS is also ranked in the UAE for corporate, commercial and M&As, the firm is a “highly regarded firm that regularly advises on the UAE aspects of significant cross-border deals, often working alongside leading international firms. In particular, the firm is well versed in acquisitions and disposals of private and public joint stock companies”.