In a substantial boost to its strategy to strengthen further its international mergers and acquisitions practice, global law firm White & Case LLP has significantly raised its profile in the Middle East with the addition of Campbell Steedman as a partner in the Firm’s Abu Dhabi office. Qualified in England, Steedman joins White & Case from Norton Rose LLP, where he was the Middle East Senior Partner, as well as head of its regional corporate finance practice.
“For the past 50 years, White & Case has been a leader throughout the Middle East – in Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE, as well as in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries,” said Philip Stopford, Regional Head for White & Case in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “Campbell’s arrival will play a critical role as we continue the strategic build-out of our presence in the region, not only in our historical core strengths of project finance and oil and gas, but also in such practices as M&A, private equity, corporate finance and disputes.”
Steedman has more than 20 years of experience in emerging markets, including eight years working with Norton Rose’s Middle East practice – the last four of which have seen him based in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. He is an expert in cross-border M&A, joint ventures and privatisations and has practised across a range of sectors, including energy, transportation, financial institutions, telecommunications and infrastructure.
“Campbell gives our clients strong, on-the-ground M&A and corporate expertise in the UAE and GCC countries, including Saudi Arabia,” said Francois Leloup, Regional Section Head for the Firm’s M&A/Corporate practice in Western Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “In addition to strengthening our global M&A capability, which is a strategic imperative, he further reinforces our full-service offering in the region, enhancing our ability to act on complex M&A transactions – such as outbound investment by corporates and sovereign wealth funds, intra-regional M&A, and inbound investment – while meeting the long-term market demand for cross-border deal making conducted under English law.”
In addition to serving as the principal M&A global relationship partner for Nestlé at his previous firm, Steedman has acted on a number of key recent M&A, corporate finance and commercial transactions regionally, including: representing a major Saudi-based company on its expected initial public offering on the Saudi Stock Exchange; advising CPC Holding on its recently completed private placement to Standard Chartered, and advising Etisalat, a world-class telecommunications company based in the UAE, on a number of its regional mobile telecoms opportunities.
“Corporates and sovereign investors in Abu Dhabi and elsewhere in the region are becoming major global players,” said Doug Peel, White & Case Executive Partner in Abu Dhabi. “These and other clients will truly benefit from Campbell’s years of experience as a trusted, senior M&A and corporate finance adviser in the region and his in-depth market knowledge.”
Steedman is the latest addition to the Firm’s Abu Dhabi office, where it has built a strong team of lawyers led by Peel, who recently relocated from Singapore to Abu Dhabi. Another recent addition to the office is partnerMargaret Cole, who rejoined White & Case in Abu Dhabi in November 2010 and whose practice focuses mainly on project finance, particularly in the infrastructure and natural resources sectors, with clients ranging from sovereign entities to multilateral agencies and corporations. Partner Saul Daniel, an English-qualified lawyer who advises utilities, sponsors, lenders and governments on a range of energy matters, moved to Abu Dhabi from the Firm’s London office in early 2011. Also in Abu Dhabi, partner Shibeer Ahmed, a leading banking lawyer with expertise in Islamic finance and project finance, joined White & Case in November 2010 from another law firm where he was the head of its Islamic and conventional finance practice.
Over the past year, White & Case has significantly expanded its Global Mergers & Acquisitions Practice. In addition to Steedman, the Firm has hired 10 new M&A partners since September 2010, with six joining since the start of the year: David Crook, Jorge de la Garza, Hugues Mathez, Virgina Tam, Maxim Telemtayev and Gavin Weir.
White & Case is a market leader in the Middle East. Recent transactions acted on by the Firm include:
- Advising Saudi Aramco on a $US20 billion joint venture with the Dow Chemical Company to build and operate a world-scale integrated chemicals complex in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia.
- Representing a bank consortium in connection with the US$612 million financing of the Shams 1 solar power project in Abu Dhabi, the first solar farm in the Middle East to reach successful financial close and the largest concentrated solar power plant in the world.
- Advising the lenders in connection with the US$2.1 billion financing of the Riyadh PP11 greenfield gas-fired independent power project in Saudi Arabia.
- Representing Qatar Holding LLC, the strategic and direct investment arm of the Qatar Investment Authority, on its purchase of a US$2.719 billion interest in Banco Santander, SA.
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