The ‘highly experienced’ team at Linklaters is lauded for its ‘strong capabilities across both conventional and Islamic finance,’ representing prominent industry players as well as a range of regional and global financial institutions. Team head Kieron Zaman, who expertly handles both conventional and Islamic finance matters, leads on a variety of acquisition finance and refinancing mandates. Co-head Reem Al Sayegh spearheads the firm’s Islamic finance practice and Middle East financial regulatory group, with a particular focus on the real estate sector. Dinush Wickremanayake provides key support on leveraged and acquisition finance transactions, while Valery Nformba is recognised for her adept cross-border practice. Yuri Nekrasov regularly advises both international and Middle Eastern banks.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
- Profile
Accolades
Client satisfaction
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Reem Al Salegh and Omar El Sayed are extremely knowledgeable on both the conventional and Islamic side and are great leaders. Valery Nformba shows great potential and strong capability to manage complex transactions.'
- 'The Linklaters team is highly experienced and has strong capabilities across a range of conventional and Islamic finance in equal measure. The team produces an extremely high standard of work in a timely fashion and go above and beyond. The team also stands out to me as being very diverse with a good mix of gender and nationalities.'
Key clients
- Brookfield Asset Management
- Mashreqbank PSC
- First Abu Dhabi Bank
- Emirates NBD Bank
- Commercial Bank of Dubai
- Emirates Islamic Bank
- Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC
- Dubai Islamic Bank
- Citibank NA
Work highlights
Advising the financiers on the provision of Shariah-compliant acquisition financing facilities to a Fajr Capital-led consortium to purchase the GCC Business of Aster DM Healthcare.
Advising Brookfield on the dual tranche conventional and Islamic facilities for its £2.2bn purchase of Network International Holdings plc a Middle East and Africa payments business, and the subsequent combination of Network and Magnati.
Advising Hassana Investment Company, on behalf of the General Organization for Social Insurance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on the US$1.2bn financing of its landmark c. US$2.4bn investment in three of DP World’s flagship UAE assets, valued at approximately US$23bn.
Lawyers
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Next generation partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Reem Al Sayegh
Practice head
Kieron Zaman; Reem Al Sayegh
Other key lawyers
Dinush Wickremanayake; Valery Nformba; Yuri Nekrasov