International law firms Norton Rose, Ashurst, Allen & Overy, and Simmons & Simmons are among 13 international law firms that have been appointed to provide legal consultancy for Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company’s first legal panels, in one of the largest ever tenders by the company.
"Having prior knowledge and experience of Qatar and the GCC as well as the sectors and other regions we work in were essential in the selection of firms, and is crucial to Qatari Diar’s vision of making a positive impact and improving the quality of lives in the communities we are serving,” said Qatari Diar Group chief executive Mohammed bin Ali Al Hedfa. “Qatari Diar was impressed by the high quality of the proposals received from the firms which participated," he said.
Norton Rose will sit on Qatari Diar’s international resource and real estate finance panels. As an advisor on the real estate panel, the law firm will partner with Qatari Diar to help provide a legal structure to its funds and projects in partnership with commercial banks and Islamic finance institutions. Advisors on the international resource panel will be responsible for helping the company appoint an international firm to mobilise a team of experienced lawyers at short notice, and work as international counsel on projects in emerging markets.
Ashurst, meanwhile, was appointed to Qatari Diar’s hotel and resorts panel, the infrastructure, construction and engineering panels and the United Kingdom Projects panels. Partners Anthony Burnett-Scott and Gerald Kelly will lead the UK Projects panel, Singapore-based real estate partner Rhonda Hare will lead on Hotels and Resorts, and Dubai-based infrastructure partner Joss Dare and David Jardine will take the lead on the Infrastructure, Construction and Engineering panel.
While Allen & Overy will take part in the finance, corporate and international resources panels, Simmons & Simmons have been appointed to the infrastructure, construction and engineering panel, and the corporate and joint venture panel.
The appointments, which will take effect on April 1, 2012, came after 46 law firms tendered for six legal panels. The law firm appointments will be for an initial period of three years.
Qatari Diar has over 49 projects, either in the work-in-progress or in the planning stages, in 29 countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East with a combined value of more than $35 billion. ALB
Shaheen Pasha is Middle East Regional Editor at ALB. Follow her on Twitter: @ ALB_TheBrief.
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