GC Summit Egypt 2020

Venue: Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile Plaza, 1089 Corniche El-Nil, Garden City, Cairo, Egypt

Overview

The role of the general counsel and senior in-house advisors is in a constant state of change and expansion. Increasingly, counsel are being tasked with defending against cyber threats, tax issues, owning disputes and ensuring compliance with an ever-growing array of regulations – all the while taking ownership of the day-to-day legal challenges which directly affect the bottom line of the business.

The Legal 500’s GC Summit Egypt invites the most esteemed in-house counsel from the country’s most prolific companies to discuss their changing roles as in-house leaders and the challenges, issues and opportunities they are facing in 2020 and beyond. Between comprehensive panel discussions and the opportunity to meet and engage with fellow in-house counsel, GC Summit Egypt promises to be a practical, forward-looking event bringing together the country’s top legal minds.

Agenda

Speakers

Ayman Essam, Vodafone Egypt

Ayman Essam graduated from Menufia University’s Faculty of Law in 1996. He has since worked in several leading legal consultancy and law firms, where he played a fundamental role in numerous massive acquisitions in Egypt. Essam joined Vodafone Egypt in 2001 where he was a key player in the legal department, with a significant role in several major acquisitions that took place during a 10 year tenure.In 2010 he joined the reputable Zaki Hashem & Partners Law firm as a partner to the firm; responsible for the firm’s transformation and regional expansion in addition to his role as a partner.Later in 2012 Essam moved back to the Telecom industry, joining Orange Egypt, as legal and corporate affairs director at the companyIn January 2017, Essamreturned to Vodafone Egypt as external affairs and legal director, leading the external communications, corporate responsibility Vodafone Egypt Foundation, regulatory affairs, government relations, legal and corporate security departments’ teams.

Anwar Zeidan, Zulficar & Partners

Mr. Anwar Zeidan is a founding partner and head of the Capital Market Department of Zulficar and Partners Law Firm. He specializes in several legal areas, which mainly include capital market transactions and M&A.

Mr. Zeidan has participated in a number of major transactions and complicated legal issues with a significant number of clients in Egypt and abroad. He has extensive experience in conducting due diligence proceedings and legal audits involving public and private Egyptian companies and banks.

Mr. Zeidan is a leading expert in matters related to the Capital Market and advises clients on tender offers, rights issue, swaps, IPOs, stock exchange rules and disclosure requirements. He also handled the first series of Employees Stock Option Plans in Egypt (ESOP) and is recognized as the leading Egyptian expert in this field setting the models for the market.

Dr Khaled Attia, Partner, Head of Dispute Resolution – Egypt Office, Al Tamimi

Dr Khaled Attia is a Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution Group in Al Tamimi & Company’s Cairo Office. He has over 23 years of experience in the legal field and is a registered arbitrator in the Cairo Regional Center for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), the Dubai International Arbitration Center (DIAC) and the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA). He is also a registered mediator at the Investment Dispute Resolution Center in the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones in Egypt (GAFI). Prior to joining Al Tamimi, Dr Attia was in the private practice realm since February 2010 as a partner responsible for the arbitration department, public private partnership and competition matters. Before starting his private practice, Dr Attia was the executive director of the Egyptian Competition Authority. He assumed office in January 2006 until January 2010. He was also a commissioner in the COMESA Competition Commission until December 2010. Between 2000 and 2006, Dr Attia worked as a chief prosecutor in the Office of the Prosecutor General of Egypt, Office for International Cooperation. During that time he worked as a part time legal advisor to the Minister of Trade (2000-2004) and to the Minister of Finance (2004-2006). He participated in the drafting of several laws and regulations such as the Specialized Economic Zones Law, the Competition law and its Executive Regulations, the PPP law and its Executive Regulations, the Income Tax Law and the Micro Small and Small Enterprises Law. He obtained his PhD in 2005 from Ain Shams University and an LLM in 1999 from the University of Essex. He is also a visiting professor on International Business Law at Nile University.

Magdy M. Nabil, Head of Central Department for Capital Market Surveillance, Financial Regulatory Authority

Magdy Nabil is currently head of capital markets surveillance at the Financial Regulatory Authority in Egypt, He specializes and holds professional certificates in financial services and capital markets field with over 22 years of extensive experience in developing and monitoring Egyptian capital markets. He has a proven record of accomplishment, working successfully with capital markets professionals to develop and implement legislation to protect investors and increase market efficiency and depth. In addition to a strong corporate finance background, Nabil has a keen business sense, with demonstrated ability to thrive in fast-paced, deadline-oriented environments.

Mahmoud Shaarawy, El Sewedy

Mr Mahmoud Shaarawy is a graduate of Alexandria University, holding a Masters in logistics, finance and legal affairs from the Arab Academy for Science and Technology. He also holds a diploma in International law from Ain Shams University.Shaarawy previously worked for ElDib Advocates, which built his legal expertise in many fields of law, and he then practiced as a legal counsel for multinational (Oracle Egypt) and international corporations (Alkan CIT & ElSewedy Electric).Shaarawy is the current group legal director of ElSewedy Electric, managing a team of 32 lawyers handling around 120 companies across the globe, working in energy production, transmission and distribution, telecommunications, construction, turnkey projects, technology, industrial development and manufacturing. His areas of experience include providing legal advice concerning all parts of the business including contracting, services, consulting, purchasing, construction and corporate restructure.Shaarawy has extensive experience in EPC agreements along with related financing agreements. He handled agreements related to power generation, electricity transmission, electricity distribution, substations and infrastructure projects. He also has reviewed and negotiated many projects agreements related to renewable energy.Shaarawy ensures and implement the full compliance with local laws of more than 42 countries, he reads, speaks and drafts in Arabic, English and French to a business level.He has been selected as one of Africa’s top 100 lawyers in 2015 and 2017 in The Legal 500’s GC Powerlist series, whilst the Elsewedy Electric legal team was selected as one of the best in-house legal teams in Africa in 2016 and 2018 in the same publication.

Riham Naim Farahat, Head of Legal Department, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Egypt

Riham Naim Farahat is an Egyptian lawyer who was born in France, and has lived in several countries in the Middle East. This has helped enriching her diverse background and depth of understanding of different cultures. She is the co-founder of The Egyptian In-house Counsels in Egypt, an Association that contain more than 250 Egyptian in house counsel from various companies. Her experience includes over seven years in the banking sector, over 10 years in the pharmaceutical industry, with experience in civil, labor, criminal, extraterritorial laws, anti- corruption laws, antitrust laws, and data privacy regulations. In addition to her education, which saw her graduate from the University of Paris-I Pantheon Sorbonne, France, and Cairo University, she is also a member of the Egyptian Bar Association.

Abdallah Y. El Shehaby, senior partner, Ibrachy Legal Consultancy

Abdallah El Shehaby is a senior partner and a member of the executive committee at Ibrachy Legal Consultancy. He has more than 13 years of experience in leading local and international law firms. He primarily focuses on arbitration, construction, banking and finance, competition and anti-trust and sports law.

El Shehaby has advised and/or appeared in ICSID, OIC, IATA, ICC, DIAC, DIFC-LCIA, CRCICA, CAS and ad- hoc high-profile arbitrations. The arbitrations he has been involved in covered a wide range of fields, namely sports, construction, M&A, hospitality, telecommunications, logistics and transportation, and oil and gas. He has also advised and/or appeared in numerous mega arbitrations setting aside procedures in Egypt and UAE. El Shehaby has obtained a temporary permit to plead before the Dubai Courts in the occasion of an important setting aside case, having additionally advised and participated in various successful mediations. He frequently sits as arbitrator in local and internationa arbitrations and is as a recognised arbitrator by the Egyptian Ministry of Justice. El Shehaby is a Construction ADR lecturer at the American University in Cairo, the Co-chairman of the Young CRCICA unit and has advised several employers and contractors in water, medical, petrochemical and electrical construction projects with both FIDIC and ad-hoc contracts.

Abdallah has advised numerous borrowers, leading banks and financial institutions (both Egyptian and international) in connection with various high-value syndicated facilities and loans, project finance, settlements of debts and debt restructures. He also also, over his career, advised a number of successful M&A, competition cases and in various general commercial legal work.

Ghada Adel, country tax manager (Middle East, North and Central Africa), ABB

Ghada Adel is the Head of Tax for ME, North and Central Africa at ABB. She has experience of 18 years in tax function. Started her career path in PwC Egypt, moving to PepsiCo International and then to ABB. She is skilled in Egyptian tax, international tax, M&A and transfer pricing. Ghada is graduated from Cairo University.

Mostafa Gad, co-head of investment banking, EFG Hermes

Mostafa Gad is co-head of EFG Hermes’ Investment Banking Division (IBD) as of 2016. Since 2016, the IBD has executed total equity deals of US$36.03bn, M&A deals of $US3.89bn and debt deals of US$1.29bn. The team has successfully executed landmark IPOs across different regional and international exchanges including Saudi Aramco, Fawry, CIRA and Arabian Centres Company. Other notable transactions included advisory on the NMC Health acquisition of Care, advisory for Ezz Dekheila Steel as well as the advisory on several accelerated book builds, including Cleopatra Hospital Group, Edita Food Industries and Ibn Sina Pharma. Prior to heading the IBD, Mostafa Gad was director of investment banking covering consumer facing sectors. Notable transactions there included; the IPO of Edita Food Industries, advisory on the private placement of Wadi Degla Holding, the IPO of Juhayna Food Industries and the IPO of Maridive Oil Services. Gad has also successfully closed several M&A transactions, including JTI advisory on the acquisition of a 100% stake in Nakhla Tobacco, advisory on the sale of Schweppes’s stake to Coca-Cola and advisory on the sale of Rashidi El-Mizan. Prior to joining EFG Hermes in 2007, Gad worked in the corporate banking department at HSBC. He holds a BA in Engineering.

Mohamed El Kalla, chief executive officer, Cairo for Investment and Real Estate Development

Mohamed El Kalla is the chief executive officer of Cairo for Investment and Real Estate Development (CIRA), an EGX30 Company and winner of Africa’s top IPO in 2018. CIRA is currently Egypt’s largest investor in the area of private education. It holds more than 17 affiliate companies and brands, including Futures Educational Systems, Rising Stars, Mavericks, British Columbia Canadian International School (BCCIS) and Badr University. CIRA has invested in 26 campuses, serving more than 37,000 students around Egypt, and has plans to expand regionally.

Following a 10-year career in the United Nations that focused on development and corporate sustainability, El Kalla founded Ahead of the Curve (ATC) consultancy, offering technical assistance to the private sector on corporate social responsibility issues. In 2011, Ahead of the Curve restructured into a leading regional sustainability management think tank focused around inclusive economies, as El Kalla believed that the region was in dire need of developing a locally sensitised think tank that works on supporting the realization of a MENA-based model for sustainability.

Mostafa Elfar, Associate, BonnelliErede

Agenda