Marwan Elaraby, a former capital markets partner at Shearman & Sterling’s New York office, has returned to the firm as its Middle East managing partner after a stint at a private equity fund.

Elaraby will be based in Shearman’s Abu Dhabi office, where he previously worked as a project development and finance associate from 1996 to 1998.

In the past few years, he has focused on sourcing and executing investments in a variety of sectors, with a particular emphasis on energy.

“Marwan has worked on virtually all types of corporate transactions and has deep and important relationships with his current clients,” said Abu Dhabi office managing partner Philip Dundas in a statement. “We see him as someone who can help us continue to expand our private equity, project development and finance, corporate and dispute resolution practices in the region.”

Media reports say that Shearman is considering office launches in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Dubai to add to its sole Middle East outpost of Abu Dhabi.

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