Gateley advises founders, family offices, and investors on M&A, corporate restructurings, and joint ventures, with a focus on mid-market deals across tech, retail, logistics, and professional services. Team head Darren Harris is praised as ‘a great leader and top notch lawyer’, leveraging over thirteen years of experience in the region to expertly counsel PE houses, founders and corporates. Amun Bashir and Gemma Kotak provide further domestic and cross-border expertise.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- ‘Darren Harris is a great leader and top notch lawyer supported by excellent individuals like Gemma Daly.'
- ‘Darren has an excellent negotiation style and can deliver firm rebuttal with calm logic, avoiding emotional responses and stand-offs.’
- ‘Both Darren Harris and Gemma Kotak brought everything they could to close and deliver the deal, after an extended, complex and challenging negotiation with many different stakeholders on the buy side. They're extremely skilled at their craft, adept, commercial, open, transparent and passionate. They have a unique ability to lead difficult conversations while keeping it professional. They brought clarity, focus and structure to the entire deal process.'
- ‘Personable and professional partners, great diversity.'
- ‘A great team who are warm and very professional.'
- ‘We worked closely with the team at Gateley as sell side representation on an M&A transaction. The team was absolutely incredible with stepping in and managing all aspects of a tough and demanding legal and commercial negotiation which took almost a year to close. They were passionate, driven, extremely competent and genuinely cared to represent and protect our interests, while moving things forward in the interest of getting a deal done.'
- ‘Darren Harris/ Amun Bashir - have a great level of integrity and capability that they extend beyond the normal service.’
- ‘ The team is very accommodating, have patience going through each family members situation. The only complain I have is the time for them to come back and move forward is very slow.’
- ‘Commercial and pragmatic with excellent knowledge of both regional and international considerations for M&A.'
Key clients
- Choithrams
- Manchester City Football Club
- Kempinski
- DSA Architects
- Socialize
- Create Group
- Chain Reaction Group
- Sanipex
- Capital Bridge
- Jones the Grocer
- Quantum Switch Technology
- AESG
- Oasis Investments
- Ecolab Group
- The Luxury Collective (Jewellers)
Work highlights
Advised the shareholders of the Create. Group, a digital marketing agency operating across the GCC, on the sale of their business to Stagwell Inc.
Advised the founders of The Talent Enterprise Group, a global talent assessment technology business to Mercer.
Advised the founder and management shareholders of the Sanipex Group on the sale of a minority a stake in the Sanipex business to Aliph Capital.
Practice head
Darren Harris
Other key lawyers
Amun Bashir; Gemma Kotak