IFLR Middle East Awards 2019: winners revealed
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IFLR Middle East Awards 2019: winners revealed

Gold winners award with three stars

Allen & Overy took home the most coveted award but there were plenty of other winners throughout the night. IFLR is pleased to reveal 2019’s best deals, teams, firms and individuals in the region

It was Allen & Overy's turn to walk triumphantly away from the 2019 IFLR Middle East Awards ceremony last night.

The firm was named international law firm of the year off the back of an exceptional performance in 2018. It was one of the big winners from the event, hosted by IFLR at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai.

Allen & Overy advised on four winning deals of the year and, more impressively, pocketed team of the year trophies for its debt capital markets, project finance and restructuring teams. Other clear winners were Clifford Chance, which emerged from a competitive field of M&A transactions to clinch M&A team of the year, and Baker McKenzie, which picked up equity team of the year.

Saudi Arabia proved itself a cauldron of legal innovation, with the Arabian Centres Company IPO and Alawwal Bank and The Saudi British Bank (SABB) merger winning the equity and domestic deal of the year categories, respectively. Groundbreaking deals by UAE-based NMC Healthcare, ADNOC and Dana Gas also resulted in deal of the year wins.

On the international side, White & Case again proved itself a dominant force in the region and its work for ADNOC won the firm the M&A deal of the year award. Linklaters, Latham & Watkins, Freshfields and Ashurst also stood out, with firms such as Pinsent Masons and Covington & Burling emerging from the field to their mettle.

On the regional firm side, Al Tamimi & Company led the way, and in just reward managing partner Husam Hourani picked up managing partner of the year. ASAR - Al Ruwayeh & Partners also had a great night, being named Kuwait law firm of the year and watching the founder of its international practice, Sam Habbas, receive the 2019 lifetime achievement award.

The night also produced many deserving individual winners. General counsel of the Public Investment Fund, Shihana Alazzaz, was presented with the 2019 Women in Business Law Award. The awards also recognised individual rising stars from Clifford Chance, Abuhimed Alsheikh Alhagbani Law Firm and Matouk Bassiouny, with the last picking up rising star law firm for its new UAE firm, Matouk Bassiouny & Ibrahim.

The full list is below.

Click here for photos of the event and here for the full write up on deals, teams and firms.


LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD


Sam Habbas – ASAR - Al Ruwayeh & Partners


DEALS OF THE YEAR

Debt and equity-linked

NMC Healthcare sukuk
Allen & Overy

Linklaters

Maples Group

Equity

Arabian Centres Company IPO
Abuhimed I Alsheikh Alhagbani Law Firm

Baker McKenzie

Clifford Chance

Legal Advisors Abdulaziz Al-Ajlan & Partners

M&A

ADNOC - KKR and BlackRock
Milbank

Trowers & Hamlins

White & Case

Project finance

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park Phase IV
Allen & Overy

Al Tamimi & Company

Ashurst

Covington & Burling

Pinsent Masons

Restructuring

Dana Gas restructuring
Allen & Overy

Al Tamimi & Company

Latham & Watkins

Norton Rose Fulbright

Squire Patton Boggs

Domestic

Alawwal Bank / The Saudi British Bank (SABB)
Abuhimed Alsheikh & Alhagbani Law Firm

Allen & Overy

Baker McKenzie

Clifford Chance

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Koshaim & Associates

Linklaters

Slaughter and May



TEAMS OF THE YEAR

Debt and equity-linked

Allen & Overy

Equity

Baker McKenzie

M&A

Clifford Chance

Project finance

Allen & Overy

Restructuring

Allen & Overy


NATIONAL WINNERS

Bahrain

Zu'bi & Partners Attorneys & Legal Consultants

Egypt

Zulficar & Partners

Iraq

Confluent Law Group

Jordan

Ali Sharif Zu'bi Advocates & Legal Consultants

Kuwait

ASAR - Al Ruwayeh & Partners

Lebanon

Abou Jaoude & Associates Law Firm

Oman

Al Busaidy Mansoor Jamal & Co

Qatar

Simmons & Simmons

Saudi Arabia

Abuhimed Alsheikh Alhagbani Law Firm

UAE

Al Tamimi & Company


INDIVIDUAL WINNERS

IFLR Women in Business Law

Shihana Alazzaz – Public Investment Fund

WIBL Hall of fame past winners: Lubna Qassim (2018), Caroline Kehoe (2017), Louise Flanagan (2016), Debbie Walker (2015, 2014), Roberta Calarese (2013)

Managing partner of the year

Husam Hourani – Al Tamimi & Company

Rising stars

Rizwan Butt – Clifford Chance

Deniz Tas – Clifford Chance

Hannan Hassanain – Abuhimed Alsheikh Alhagbani Law Firm

Nadia Abdallah – Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy



BANK AND FIRM AWARDS

International law firm of the year

Allen & Overy

In-house team of the year

Standard Chartered Bank

Islamic bank of the year

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

Pro bono firm of the year

White & Case

Rising star law firm of the year

Matouk Bassiouny & Ibrahim

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