Mr Dabbasi joined the firm in 2011. His practice consists of corporate and commercial, private equity, venture capital, and finance matters. He advises on cross-border and domestic mergers and acquisitions, project finance, and fund formation and management. He also advises on a broad range of public and private equity transactions, including early stage venture capital financings, private placements, mezzanine financings, and acquisitions in the energy, technology, media and telecommunications sectors. and growth capital investments of companies in the energy and technology sectors.

Prior to joining Afridi & Angell, Mr Dabbasi worked as a corporate associate with another law firm in Dubai and with a global law firm in New York.

His notable transaction experience includes:

• Advising a private equity fund regarding US$250 million debt and equity financing for its oil and gas, coal mining, wind power, and electric power infrastructure projects. 
• Advising a public sector energy provider in its acquisition of power plants and infrastructure equipment valued at US$350 million. 
• Advising owners, operators, and investors in purchases and sales of restaurants and hospitality facilities valued at over US$100 million. 
• Advising a transportation conglomerate regarding its equity and convertible debt investment in a mobile application valued at US$10 million. 
• Advising venture capitalists, fund managers, incubators, crowd funding investors, and entrepreneurs regarding MENA region venture capital financing. 
• Advising an oil and gas conglomerate in connection with registration, licensing, and import/export issues regarding its Middle East petroleum drilling operations. 
• Advising owners, operators, and investors regarding hotel management and investment structures in the Gulf States.
• Advising an international bank in its acquisition of insurance products valued at US$50 million and receivables valued at US$75 million.  

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Mr Dar joined Afridi & Angell in 2011. His practice includes banking and finance, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters. He has advised companies and financial institutions on a range of financing transactions, including conventional and Islamic finance. He has extensive experience of working with bank Shari’a and Fatwa supervisory boards, and independent Shari’a scholars, in structuring a variety of Islamic financing transactions (including Istisna’a, Ijara, Murabaha, Musharaka and Mudaraba). Mr Dar has also advised local and overseas companies on a range of corporate and capital markets transactions including cross-border acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, distribution and IPOs.

Prior to joining Afridi & Angell, Mr Dar worked as a corporate associate in the London offices of Hogan Lovells and Dorsey & Whitney, where he advised on a wide range of international mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and secondary offerings in the US and the UK (AIM and the Official List).

His notable transactions include:

Banking and Finance

• Advised the Government of Sharjah on a KWD 30 million term loan facility.
• Advised Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank on the restructuring of its AED 1.1 billion term loan facility to a local property developer.
• Advised the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority on a US$350 million syndicated facility, US$250 million dual-tranche facilities (Term Loan and Master Murabaha), and the restructuring of US$150 million Islamic facilities.
• Advised Malabar Gold and Diamonds on an AED 300 million multicurrency term loan facility.
• Advised a syndicate of Islamic banks on AED 290 million dual-tranche facilities (Term Loan and Master Istisna’a / Master Ijara), to finance the building of a new hospital and medical university.
• Advised a syndicate of banks on the restructuring of AED 295 million dual-tranche facilities (Term Loan and Ijara) to three UAE companies.
• Advised Ajman Bank on the restructuring of its AED 75 million Islamic tranche facility (part of a Term Loan and Master Sukuk Murabaha dual-tranche facility) to a European company.
• Advised a syndicate of banks  (including an Islamic bank) on AED 254 million dual-tranche facilities (Term Loan and Master Sukuk Murabaha) to finance the construction of a hotel in Dubai.
• Advised a syndicate of banks on a US$75 million and an AED 55 million dual-tranche facilities (Term Loan and Master Sukuk Murabaha) to finance the construction of a PTP plant in Belgium. 
• Advised a syndicate of banks on an AED 150 million term loan and an AED 195 million revolving working capital facility to Dubai Wire FZE and Global Fasteners Limited.
• Advised various banks including Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Emirates NBD, Noor Islamic Bank, Al Hilal Bank and National Bank of Fujairah on ship financing transactions. 

Mergers and Acquisitions

• Advised a BVI company on the proposed sale of its coal mining operations in Indonesia to the investment arm of the government of Ras Al Khaimah, for a combined consideration of US$150 million. 
• Advised Allied Healthcare International Inc. on its US$73 million acquisition of Southern Cross Healthcare Group and its US$18 million acquisition of Midland Healthcare Limited.
• Advised CintiTech AG on its £30.5 million acquisition of Thermopol International Limited (a high-performance silicon producer with operations in the UK, USA, Norway and Korea).

Capital Markets

• Advised the Damac Group on its US$1.2 billion IPO of global depositary receipts on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.
• Advised the Damac Group on its IPO on the Dubai Financial Market.
• Advised Indian property developer Ishaan Real Estate plc on its £207 million IPO on AIM.
• Advised mining company Noventa Limited on its £8 million IPO on AIM.
• Advised the Local Radio Company plc and Taylor Nelson Soferes plc on their "cashbox placing", raising an aggregate of £14.8 million.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

• Banking and Financial Services
• Islamic Finance
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Capital Markets
• Infrastructure and Project Finance
• Corporate and Commercial

QUALIFICATIONS AND ADMISSIONS

• Law Society of England and Wales

EDUCATION

• MA in Law (Banking and Capital Markets), University of Westminster, 2003
• LLB, University of Leicester, 2001

LANGUAGES

• English
• Urdu
• Punjabi

PUBLICATIONS  

• Banking and Finance (UAE chapter), 2016, Chambers Global Practice Guides
• Lending and Taking Security in the United Arab Emirates, 2015/16, Practical Law Global Guide

Mr El Gawhary joined Afridi & Angell in 2015. His practice focuses on commercial litigation and domestic and international arbitration, and on representing companies involved in commercial disputes before the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts, the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the DIFC LCIA Arbitration Centre.

Prior to joining Afridi & Angell, Mr El Gawhary was an Associate Attorney at the international law firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP. He practiced both out of the firm’s office in Washington DC and its office in Dubai. In Washington DC, his practice focused on the representation of governments and state-owned entities involved in investor-state and commercial arbitration disputes brought before the International Chamber of Commerce and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). In Dubai, he represented companies involved in commercial disputes arbitrated at the Dubai International Arbitration Centre, and in cases litigated in the DIFC courts. He also assisted the corporate department with drafting corporate and commercial documents.

Prior to that, Mr El Gawhary was an Attorney for the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender. He has also served as a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Judge Mark I. Bernstein in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas, in the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania; where he worked on a broad range of civil and commercial litigation cases.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

• DIFC Court Litigation
• Commercial Litigation
• Dispute Resolution
• Domestic and International Arbitration

QUALIFICATIONS AND ADMISSIONS

• New York State Bar
• New Jersey State Bar
• District of Columbia Bar

US District Courts

• Southern District of New York
• District of New Jersey

EDUCATION

• JD, Vermont Law School
• BA, American University in Cairo

LANGUAGES

• English
• Arabic

PUBLICATIONS

• Author of Recent ICSID Arbitral Awards in which the 'Illegality of the Investment' Defence was raised by the host State, published in a Festchrift in honour of Ahmed El-Kosheri

Ms El Zein joined Afridi & Angell in 2008. Her practice is focused primarily on corporate and commercial matters. She has been involved in:

• advising on the establishment of businesses in the UAE, preparing documentation related thereto, and later assisting such businesses on a regular basis;
• negotiating with private and government counterparties on behalf of clients;
• advising on the purchase and sale of business, including conducting due diligence, structuring and negotiating the transaction;
• preparing a broad range of commercial agreements, including national agency agreements, partnership agreements, and transfer of business agreements; and
• acting for a client in changing the company's legal form from a public joint stock to a private joint stock company.    

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Mr Hashim has substantial experience in all aspects of civil and criminal litigation from case intake through to final disposition at trial. He handles a heavy caseload at a busy litigation practice, which includes conducting research and drafting memoranda used to support court pleadings.  

Prior to joining Afridi & Angell in 2011, Mr Hashim was an associate at a law firm in Khartoum. He had rights of audience before all Sudanese courts. Mr Hashim was also a teaching assistant in the faculty of law, University of Khartoum.

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