Oman > Banking and finance
Index of tables
Banking and finance
Leading individuals
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- Roger Byrne Trowers & Hamlins
- Justine Harding SNR Denton
SNR Denton has excellent ‘knowledge of the latest laws, market practices and the current approaches of regulators and government bodies to legal issues, transactions and policy/directives’. Recent highlights include advising Standard Chartered on a $25m loan to Bank Dhofar, and representing Bank Muscat on a $296m loan for refinancing and project financing purposes. ‘Highly professional’ team head Justine Harding has an ‘in-depth knowledge of the law and market practice’, and is aided by a number of junior lawyers who also ‘demonstrate a high level of professionalism and responsiveness’. Clients include a mix of corporates and banks such as Bank Muscat, Standard Chartered, Gulf International Bank, Oman Air and Electricity Holding Company.
Trowers & Hamlins’ Roger Byrne heads the team and has developed a reputation as a go-to-lawyer for sophisticated and complex banking and financing transactions. Praised for being ‘very easy to deal with’, he recently advised the lenders in the $1bn financing of the Salalah IWPP project, in what was the first private project financing to proceed in the Gulf following the global financial crisis. In addition to transactional work, Byrne provides expertise in finance-related litigation, as well as work on the establishment of funds in the region, such as for Bank Muscat on its $250m Oman Fixed Income Fund. The firm is also active on the capital markets side, and, led by Charles Schofield, recently represented Morgan Stanley on Nawras telecommunications’ $500m IPO.
Al Busaidy, Mansoor Jamal & Co advises banks and corporates engaged in project and acquisition financings, as well as handling capital markets transactions. Led by senior associate Marcus Pery, the firm acted for ICICI Bank on a $48m loan provided to Shiv-Vani Oil & Gas. Other highlights included advising local telecoms company Nawras on its $500m IPO. Notably, this the first time an IPO had taken place in Oman on the basis of a book-building exercise.
Said Al-Shahry Law Office’s banking group is well-known in the region for its work on behalf of domestic and international banks on project financing. As well as its recent work for the China Development Bank Corporation on the Salalah II independent water and power plant project, the team also handled work for Salzburger Aluminium Sohar on the formation and financing of the first industrial company to be established downstream from the Sohar Aluminium plant.
At Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, Bruce Palmer heads a group that has picked up an increasing flow of work for banks and borrowers engaged predominantly in projects/infrastructure matters. Recent highlights include advising Oman Investment on the financing of the Salalah IWPP. Clients include BankMuscat, Oman Investment Fund, Oman Air, Standard Chartered Bank, Oman International Bank and Abraj Energy. Associate Helen Dean also handles banking and finance mandates.