Sponsored briefing: Q&A with Eversheds Sutherland El Heni

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Sponsored briefing: Q&A with Eversheds Sutherland El Heni

Can you give our readers an overview of Eversheds Sutherland El Heni Law Firm’s legal practice in Tunisia?

We have five main legal practices in our law firm:

  • Corporate/ M&A: One of the strongest team in the Tunisian market (an average of 20 deals per year) mainly focusing on international investments or very high-profile projects in Tunisia.
  • Business law including IP/IT, labour, civil, commercial and contract: The team is fully dedicated to foreign clients who use, fully or partially depending on their internal legal team, our legal outsourcing service enabling them to focus efforts on their core business.
  • Infrastructure, energy, transport: The work is mostly centred around renewable energy, customs and real estate.
  • Banking and finance: The team is used to assisting the biggest DFIs in Tunisia such as IFC, EBRD, and AFD. In addition, we have a strong insurance activity including the main ones in the Tunisian market (Maghrebia Assurance, Star Assurance, Biat Assurance), and act in project finance.
  • Dispute resolution: We offer market-leading pre-contentious, and contentious assistance with day-to-day complex matters. We play a key role in shaping the law and adapting it to the needs of our international clients. For instance, our multilingual team is able to report in French, English and Arabic. We also manage and lead high-profile arbitration.

What do you see as the main points that rank Eversheds Sutherland El Heni Law Firm as a leading firm in the Tunisian legal business market?

We operate under international standards, which means that we respect our deadlines, we have a sophisticated billing system, and our flexible team is always available to respond to a client in need. Furthermore, we are a full-service law firm, so we are able to assist our clients in every aspect of their projects. Our large law firm of 20 (in comparison to the Tunisian market) and its organisation in several practice areas, enable us to work on several projects simultaneously and different aspects of the same projects at the same time. Finally, being part of a global network of 70 Eversheds Sutherland international offices across 36 countries, we can offer our international clients, multi-jurisdictional advice across the five continents.

Given the problems created by the Covid-19 pandemic, how did you successfully manage your firm?

Our first two goals were the safety of the team and establishing a strong internal organisation in order to maintain a high quality of deliverables. When the above conditions have been filled, it allowed us to nurture our clients and to fully support them by focusing on their needs. As an example, during the first phase of the pandemic, we sent weekly newsletters informing the clients of the measures taken by the government, as it was constantly changing, making it easier for them to take decisions.

Which sectors are/will be of most interest to foreign investors, and why?

From our knowledge and experience, the promising sectors for investments are the new technology, renewable energy, healthcare and diversified industries.

We are currently drafting the digital and telecoms legislation, as well as assisting many successful startups, and we’ve noticed that new tech is still new but very attractive for foreign investors as regulations are moving towards a more digitalised economy.

As far as the renewable energy sector goes, Tunisia has a good positioning and significant projects are currently ongoing. On the other hand, the healthcare and diversified industry sectors are still stable for the moment despite the current situation, but they should be expanding soon.

Are there any main changes which you have personally made within the firm that will benefit clients?

As a business-oriented law firm, we recognise our clients’ needs and risks. We understand urgent matters may arise at any time in a business, especially during a global pandemic, so we took the decision to organise the team in total flexibility. This way, our team is available at any time, which was truly appreciated and very beneficial to our clients. In addition, we put significant financial efforts into supporting our clients economically, which means that we accept to postpone payment deadlines, split/reduce our fees etc.

What is the main added value of Eversheds Sutherland El Heni as a corporate law firm in Tunisia?

We are able to offer our clients the high-level of service and thoroughness that our international clients are used to receiving in mature markets (US, EU, Middle East) adapted to the Tunisian market.

For more information, please contact:


Fares Koussay El Heni
Deputy head Africa (Paris) and managing partner (Tunis)

T: + 216 71 116 720 (Paris)
F: + 216 98 337 117 (Paris)

T: + 33 1 55 73 41 08 (Tunisia)
F: + 33 6 68 20 65 33 (Tunisia)

E: fareselheni@eversheds-sutherland.com

Sponsored firm focus: Focus on Eversheds Sutherland El Heni in association with El Heni Law Firm

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Sponsored firm focus: Focus on Eversheds Sutherland El Heni in association with El Heni Law Firm

13 Rue du Lac Tana, Les Berges du Lac I, 1053 Tunis, Tunisia

T: +216 71 116 720 | E: fareselheni@eversheds-sutherland.com

Practice areas: Corporate M&A; commercial, social, IP/IT; digital; infrastructure, renewable energy and transport; banking and finance and project finance; litigation and arbitration

Firm profile

Based in Tunis, El Heni Law firm was created in 1980 and joined the Eversheds Sutherland Africa Group in 2013 creating Eversheds Sutherland El Heni in association with El Heni Law Firm. With our managing partner and deputy head of the Africa Group, Fares Koussay El Heni, founding partner, Mohamed Raouf El Heni, and banking and finance partner, Soundès Mejdoub, our multilingual team of 20 represents a diverse range of clients, from multinational and regional corporations to small and medium businesses, governmental bodies, investors, and entrepreneurs.

The firm has a longstanding presence in Tunisia and can offer 30+ years’ worth of knowledge and experience of the Tunisian government, administration, and market. Our clients benefit from the international experience of our lawyers in various legal matters such as corporate/M&A, commercial, social, IP/IT, legal outsourcing, banking and finance, energy and infrastructure, litigation and arbitration, telecoms and digital.

We have a unique strategy that differentiates us from other law firms:

  • We know how to bridge the cultural and legal gap between the Tunisian market and the investors’ culture by understanding their business.
  • We anticipate all the potential legal issues and problems that could arise during the project lifecycle by considering every aspects even including currency, customs, and taxes.
  • We find innovative solutions, respecting clients’ needs and policies, adapted to the local market to allow the project realisation.
  • We take care of our clients (reactiveness), we think with them (proactiveness), and we are engaged with them (partnership).

Team profile

Our office is divided into five practice groups according to the experience and expertise of the lawyers. Our large team of multilingual lawyers are well-versed on every aspect of business law and operate under international standards. We are able to advise on various projects simultaneously, but also on different aspect of the same project at the same time. We are business-oriented and value offering an innovative client-experience by anticipating the risks and considering the unique needs of their organisation such as the environment and regulations they operate in.

Fares Koussay El Heni (managing partner and deputy head Africa group, corporate M&A/commercial, social, legal outsourcing, energy and infrastructure, project, IP/IT)
Mohamed Raouf El Heni (founding partner, banking and finance, litigation and arbitration)
Soundès Mejdoub (partner, banking and finance)

At a glance: Eversheds Sutherland El Heni in association with El Heni Law Firm

Headcount: 3 partners, 18 associates

Number of offices: 74 offices in 35 countries – 1 office in Tunisia

Key clients: GE, Nokia, IFC (World Bank Group), Scatec Solar, Emerson, Bulgin, Rina, Turkish Airlines, Roche, Kone

Sponsored briefing: Q&A with Matouk Bassiouny Algeria

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Sponsored briefing: Q&A with Matouk Bassiouny Algeria

Can you give our Legal Business readers an overview of Matouk Bassiouny’s practice in Algeria?

Matouk Bassiouny in association with SH-Avocats is a full-service Algerian law firm headquartered in Algiers. We offer an integrated and efficient service combining a true on-the-ground knowledge with international standards. Our teams in Algiers work seamlessly with our other offices in the MENA region (Egypt, Sudan, and the UAE) enabling us to build on the expertise of our regional practice groups specialised in specific industries and legal practices.

We provide advisory and transactional services to local and foreign investors in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. Our team also provides our clients with comprehensive dispute resolution services in English, French and Arabic before Algerian courts as well as regional arbitral tribunals. Our Algiers litigation team includes attorneys qualified before the Appellate Courts and the Court of Cassation of Algeria.

We are client-centric and results-oriented. Building on our sector-focused approach, we provide ‘actionable advice’. Our role is to act as a business adviser identifying and resolving key issues to achieve our clients’ strategic objectives.

What do you see as the main points that rank Matouk Bassiouny as a leading firm in the Algerian legal business market?

Our team of two dedicated partners and three lawyers are trilingual and licensed to practice in Algeria. As we routinely advise international corporations, we operate in line with international best practices, but are also deeply entrenched in the local market, cultural and political environments. It is to be noted that both partners, Houda Sahri and Jean-Jérôme Khodara, have a vast experience in Algeria. Both have worked in Algeria for many years,have a deep knowledge of the Algerian market and are very familiar with the complications of the legal framework in Algeria.

In addition, our firm maintains good working relationships with key Algerian authorities including, the Algerian Central Bank, the Governmental Agency for Investment Promotion, the Algerian Customs Authorities and the Competition Authority, thus allowing us to fast-track administrative hurdles.

Our Algiers office is also licensed to plead before Algerian courts. This puts us in a unique position in the Algerian market, allowing us to serve our clients in all their legal needs, whether of a cross-border or local nature.

Given the problems created by the Covid-19 pandemic, how is this affecting your firm and the legal business market generally in the Algeria?

Despite the political and health instability over the past year, we have seen enormous interest from foreign investors since the issuance of the new finance law that has alleviated the restrictions on foreign investment and the so called 49/51 rule.

Algeria has chosen a highly cautious approach to the Covid-19 pandemic that has slowed down the economic activity of the country. This has of course impacted the legal business, however, the need to diversify its economy has triggered a reform of the investment framework and we have been advising a lot of clients either to explore new opportunities created by this reform or to help existing clients to navigate the changes. So in terms of activity, we have no complaints.

Can you talk about any trends or changes in the landscape you are seeing emerge in the Algerian legal business market?

Algeria is witnessing large changes in the investment legal framework. It started with the alleviation of the general restriction on foreign investment including the restriction to 49% of foreign ownership and the state’s preemption right over foreign transfer of ownership and continues through a pipeline of pro-investment legislation in different sectors including banking, oil and gas and food industry.

In 2020, Algeria also lifted the prohibition on international financing and it is in the process of becoming a member of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Such developments are expected to result in a significant growth of project finance in Algeria.

We are witnessing a surge of requests to understand the ongoing modifications to the investment framework in Algeria which reflects the raise of interest in the Algerian Market which was considered for a long time as a closed market.

How is your firm positioned for an anticipated resurgence in activity in the Algerian legal business market?

Our team of two dedicated partners and three lawyers are trilingual and licensed to practice in Algeria. We have also access to a pool of more than 200 lawyers of Matouk Bassiouny regional offices with a regional experience.

We are also planning to build our capabilities by growing our team in our Algiers office. Our goal is to train young Algerian lawyers to operate in line with our international standards and believe we also have our role to play to add to the legal market in Algeria.

With the experience of our leading partners and the support of the team, Matouk Bassiouny in Algeria is the first full fledged independent law firm and we are planning to be one of the big market players within the next few years.

Which sectors are/will be of most interest to foreign investors, and why?

We are seeing two tendencies: first, the existing clients having their activity in the sectors that are witnessing major amendment mainly: importation, pharmaceuticals and automotive. While importation and pharmaceuticals are still subject to the 49/51 rule, Algerian authorities, with the objective of promoting the local car manufacturing industry and preserving the country’s foreign exchange reserves, have passed stringent legislation over the last few years in order to curb the importation of new vehicles. The most recent is the exclusion of foreign investors from the activity of importation and dealing in new cars must be 100% owned by Algerian residents.

The second is the rising interest of international financing organisations in the financing of big projects in banking and renewable energies.

Are there any main changes which you have personally made within the firm that will benefit clients?

There are no major changes, however since the firm is evolving rather fast we are expanding our capabilities and enlarging the team of lawyers by recruiting new young and experienced lawyers to provide the best services to our clients.

What has been your greatest achievement, in a professional and personal capacity?

Working on successful M&A operations and recovering debt amounts to our clients over the last two years.

For more information, please contact:

Houda Sahri, managing partner, Algeria, Matouk Bassiouny in association with SH-Avocats

E: houda.sahri@matoukbassiouny.com

Jean-Jérôme Khodara, Matouk Bassiouny, LB303, August 2021

Jean-Jérôme Khodara, partner, head of the Algeria Practice, Matouk Bassiouny in association with SH-Avocats

E: jj.khodara@matoukbassiouny.com

matoukbassiouny.com

Sponsored firm focus: Focus on Matouk Bassiouny in association with SH-Avocats

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Sponsored firm focus: Focus on Matouk Bassiouny in association with SH-Avocats

1 bis, Chemin des Glycines, Algiers, Algeria

T: +(213) 21 239 723 | E: info@matoukbassiouny.com | W: www.matoukbassiouny.com

Practice areas: Corporate and M&A, capital markets, dispute resolution, and finance and projects

Firm profile

Matouk Bassiouny is a leading, full-service MENA law firm with offices in Algiers, Algeria (Matouk Bassiouny in association with SH-Avocats), Cairo, Egypt (Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy), Abu Dhabi and Dubai, UAE (Matouk Bassiouny) and Khartoum, Sudan (Matouk Bassiouny in association with AIH Law Firm), as well as a country desk covering our Libya practice. Our four offices are strategically located to better serve our clients’ business interests across the entire MENA region.

Our team of over 200 lawyers specialises in advising multinationals, corporations, financial institutions and governmental entities on all legal aspects of investing and doing business in the MENA region.

Trained both locally and internationally in civil and common law systems, our lawyers are deeply ingrained with international best practices and are fully conversant in English, Arabic and French.

Our firm collectively has access to a vast amount of knowledge and experience. We harness this knowledge via our 16 sector-focused groups that support our practice groups. We are therefore able to deliver legal services catered to the industry-specific needs of our clients. Our mission is to find the most innovative and cost-effective solutions for our clients, as we understand that our clients need to drive maximum value from their legal spending. We do this by maintaining a proactive commercial approach to all our legal services.

Team profile

Matouk Bassiouny joined forces with SH-Avocats, a full-service Algerian law firm headquartered in Algiers, to create Matouk Bassiouny in association with SH-Avocats. Led by Houda Sahri (managing partner of the Algiers office) and Jean-Jérôme Khodara (head of Matouk Bassiouny’s Algeria practice), Matouk Bassiouny in association with SH-Avocats has earned a stellar reputation for providing high-quality legal services across a wide range of sectors in the Algerian market.

Houda Sahri, managing partner, Algeria, Matouk Bassiouny in association with SH-Avocats
Jean-Jérôme Khodara, partner, head of the Algeria practice, Matouk Bassiouny in association with SH-Avocats

At a glance: Matouk Bassiouny in association with SH-Avocats

Headcount: 200+ lawyers, 24 partners, 100+ support staff

Offices: Algiers, Algeria; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Cairo, Egypt; Dubai, UAE; Khartoum, Sudan

Key clients: CDC Group, Uber, Etisalat Misr, Pfizer, LafargeHolcim, Lekela Power, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Development Partners International, Hassan Allam, Hilton

Sponsored briefing: Q&A with Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy

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Sponsored briefing: Q&A with Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy

Can you give our Legal Business readers an overview of Matouk Bassiouny’s practice in Egypt?

Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy is a premier full-service business law firm in Egypt. We started in Egypt, and since then have expanded across the MENA region with offices in the UAE, Sudan and Algeria. Our firm is organised within four main practice groups, and we have recently developed core sector focus capabilities organised into 16 specialised sector groups. With over 170 lawyers in our Egypt office, our firm collectively has access to a vast amount of legal knowledge and experience. We are therefore able to deliver legal services catered to the sector-specific needs of our clients. Our lawyers are trained both locally and internationally in both civil and common law systems, our lawyers are fully conversant in English, Arabic and French. Our firm is ideally placed to advise on high-profile, high-value complex matters.

What do you see as the main points that rank Matouk Bassiouny as a leading firm in the Egyptian legal business market?

Firstly, our strict core practice groups. Unlike other top-tier law firms in Egypt, we are the only law firm in Egypt that has strict practice groups enabling us to efficiently deliver innovative solutions to our clients. Hand in hand with, I also believe our dedicated sector-focused groups give our lawyers and clients a massive advantage. Our firm has made a tremendous investment in implementing 16 sector-focused groups that cut across all our practice groups in order to achieve an even higher level of intellectual and practical synergy. We have created a space for our lawyers to meet, discuss developments, debate ideas, share precedents, anecdotes and add to each other’s and their clients’ knowledge within specific business sectors. And last, but certainly not least, our diversity and inclusion programme which launched last year, headed by our partner, Mariam Auda. Our biggest source of pride at our firm is that we have implemented a horizontal meritocratic philosophy in order to foster an environment where the brightest minds, no matter their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion or socio-economic background, can come together and flourish professionally.

Given the problems created by the Covid-19 pandemic, how is this affecting your firm and the legal business market generally in Egypt?

Well, the first year of the pandemic was very challenging. Considering that we are the largest firm in Egypt, in the context of the pandemic, size has not helped us. When you are a smaller firm, you are more agile and perhaps able to weather the storm more easily. However, when you are as large as us it becomes more challenging. That being said, we did manage to weather that storm and in fact rose from the pandemic stronger. In a way, it prepared us to manage future crises more efficiently as they may come. From a work standpoint, the first six months of the pandemic were a disaster. The world just froze. Starting from September of last year, however, work began ramping back up. Today we are busier than we have ever been and we have enshrined concepts of mobility and distance working, which will enable us to efficiently manage any future lockdowns or other future safety precautions.

Can you talk about any trends or changes in the landscape you are seeing emerge in the Egyptian legal business market?

We are now seeing Egypt rise to being one of the top destinations for foreign direct investment, which means that inbound M&A has been very hot. Secondly, I believe Egypt is starting to get traction as being seen as a new start up scene. We are seeing a lot of new innovative startups and accordingly, a lot of investment in the startup scene. Accordingly, we are starting to see a slight shift in M&As. In the past M&A was mainly focused on oil and gas, FMCG, health care and education, but now we are starting to see that focus diversify a bit, mainly by honing in on the tech and startup scenes.

How is your firm positioned for an anticipated resurgence in activity in the Egyptian legal business market?

As previously mentioned, we have never been busier than we are today. And so this year, starting from January 2021, the firm has added around an additional 15 lawyers to our teams. Accordingly, we are completely equipped and ready to handle all of our clients’ needs, whatever they may be. Additionally, we were very humbled to have won Corporate and M&A Law Firm of the Year at this year’s Chambers Middle East Awards 2021.

Which sectors are/will be of most interest to foreign investors, and why?

Traditionally speaking, FMCG, education and healthcare sectors are fuelled by strong demographics, however, as I touched upon earlier, Egypt is now witnessing new sectors emerging, namely the tech and startup sectors. We are also witnessing innovative efforts to link the tech sectors with more traditional sectors, for example one of our startup clients is Ashtar which does e-learning, Jilatee which sells secondhand fashion and Shift EV which does acceleration for the transition to electric mobility for fleets in the emerging markets.

Are there any main changes which you have personally made within the firm that will benefit clients?

I think the main, most recent change has been building up our dedicated sector-focused groups. Our 16 sector groups support our practice groups by providing sector-specific expertise, which has proven to be a significant added-value to each practice group’s offerings to clients. This initiative has underlined our commitment to understanding our clients’ industry-specific commercial needs and allows us not to just be lawyers to our clients, but also valuable business partners with them. We remain the only firm in Egypt to adopt such a structure.

Also quite important, is our regional expansion. Our regional firm has continued to grow over the past few years, and just last year we officially opened our fourth office in Algiers, making us one of the largest regional firms in the MENA region.

What has been your greatest achievement, in a professional and personal capacity?

Honestly, I believe my greatest achievement is having found my amazingly supportive wife. Building a regional top-tier law firm like Matouk Bassiouny from the ground up is incredibly time consuming and demanding, and there is no way I could have done it without the patience and support of my wonderful wife.

For more information, please contact:

Omar S. Bassiouny, founding partner and head of corporate and M&A, Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy

E: Omar.bassiouny@matoukbassiouny.com

matoukbassiouny.com

Sponsored firm focus: Focus on Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy

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Sponsored firm focus: Focus on Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy

12 Mohamed Ali Genah, Garden City, Cairo, Egypt

T: +(202) 2796 2042 | E: Info@matoukbassiouny.com | W: www.matoukbassiouny.com

Practice areas: Corporate and M&A, capital markets, dispute resolution, and finance and projects

Firm profile

Matouk Bassiouny is a leading, full-service MENA law firm with offices in Algiers, Algeria (Matouk Bassiouny in association with SH-Avocats), Cairo, Egypt (Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy), Abu Dhabi and Dubai, UAE (Matouk Bassiouny) and Khartoum, Sudan (Matouk Bassiouny in association with AIH Law Firm), as well as a country desk covering our Libya practice. Our four offices are strategically located to better serve our clients’ business interests across the entire MENA region.

Our team of over 200 lawyers specialises in advising multinationals, corporations, financial institutions and governmental entities on all legal aspects of investing and doing business in the MENA region.

Trained both locally and internationally in civil and common law systems, our lawyers are deeply ingrained with international best practices and are fully conversant in English, Arabic and French.

Our firm collectively has access to a vast amount of knowledge and experience. We harness this knowledge via our 16 sector-focused groups that support our practice groups. We are therefore able to deliver legal services catered to the industry-specific needs of our clients. Our mission is to find the most innovative and cost-effective solutions for our clients, as we understand that our clients need to drive maximum value from their legal spending. We do this by maintaining a proactive commercial approach to all our legal services.

Team profile

Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy was established in 2005 and has since developed into a premier full-service business law firm in Egypt, and the region. We pride ourselves in our people as well as in the strong and long-lasting relationships we have built with our corporate and institutional clients over the years. We also deeply value the bonds we have formed with numerous tier-one international law firms with whom we routinely team up in providing the highest level of legal services to our clients in the most significant, high-value and sensitive transactions, projects and disputes in Egypt and the region.

Omar S. Bassiouny, founding partner and head of corporate and M&A

At a glance: Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy

Headcount: 200+ lawyers, 24 partners, 100+ support staff

Offices: Algiers, Algeria; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Cairo, Egypt; Dubai, UAE; Khartoum, Sudan

Key clients: CDC Group, Uber, Etisalat Misr, Pfizer, LafargeHolcim, Lekela Power, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Development Partners International, Hassan Allam, Hilton

Sponsored briefing: Q&A with Matouk Bassiouny in association with AIH Law Firm

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Sponsored briefing: Q&A with Matouk Bassiouny in association with AIH Law Firm

Can you give our Legal Business readers an overview of Matouk Bassiouny’s practice in Sudan?

Matouk Bassiouny in association with AIH Law Firm (MBAIH) was established in 2016, the first regional firm to open in Sudan, as a result of a co-operation of more than ten years on Sudanese matters in between Matouk Bassiouny and AIH Law firm. MBAIH aims to service clients and law firms seeking advice on Sudanese matters in areas including corporate and M&A, finance and projects and dispute resolution.

What do you see as the main points that rank Matouk Bassiouny as a leading firm in the Sudanese legal business market?

MBAIH aims to serve its clients with all legal needs relating to their business activities. We always adopt a practical, commercial approach that ensures compliance with laws, while navigating the complex administrative aspects. Our ultimate mission, and metric of success, is creating value for our clients.

Given the problems created by the Covid-19 pandemic, how is this affecting your firm and the legal business market generally in the Sudan?

When Covid-19 hit Sudan, Sudan was already in a complex process of rebuilding its political system, following the Sudanese Revolution. Because of the political events, judicial and administrative functions were irregular, which made simple legal tasks (eg, obtaining a permit for a client), challenging. Covid-19 compounded that reality even more. However, we have witnessed an effort for flexibility from Sudanese judicial and administrative officials, which has helped mitigate the issue. The firm has had to considerably upgrade and optimise its IT infrastructure to ensure minimal work disruptions.

Can you talk about any trends or changes in the landscape you are seeing emerge in the Sudanese legal business market?

The Sudanese legal market is rapidly changing, in pace with the changing business environment. Now that US sanctions are lifted, we are seeing an influx of foreign investments, and local entrepreneurial initiatives that are driving the legal market to be more responsive, and commercially minded.

How is your firm positioned for an anticipated resurgence in activity in the Sudanese legal business market?

We constantly ensure that our fee-earners have the sufficient knowledge and training to understand and efficiently answer our clients’ needs. We are able to draw on our regional experience (in Egypt, Algeria and the UAE) to provide the clients with tailored advice.

Which sectors are/will be of most interest to foreign investors, and why?

Agriculture and mining will continue to be important sectors. We also expect a strong uptick in the interest for transport and logistics project, fintech, and general banking sectors.

Are there any main changes which you have personally made within the firm that will benefit clients?

I launched our firm’s regional initiative to establish sector groups that ensure sector knowledge always goes hand in hand with legal knowledge.

What has been your greatest achievement, in a professional and personal capacity?

I would say my team. I always aim to hire and work with people that complement my gaps in knowledge and approach.

For more information, please contact:

Mahmoud S. Bassiouny, regional managing partner, regional head of finance and projects

E: mahmoud.bassiouny@matoukbassiouny.com
www.matoukbassiouny.com

Sponsored firm focus: Focus on Matouk Bassiouny in association with AIH Law Firm

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Sponsored firm focus: Focus on Matouk Bassiouny in association with AIH Law Firm

Khartoum South, Plot No. 3, Block No. 1/KH, Khartoum, Sudan

T: +(249) 183 483344 | E: info@matoukbassiouny.com | W: www.matoukbassiouny.com

Practice areas: Corporate and M&A, capital markets, dispute resolution, and finance and projects

Firm profile

Matouk Bassiouny is a leading, full-service MENA law firm with offices in Algiers, Algeria (Matouk Bassiouny in association with SH-Avocats), Cairo, Egypt (Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy), Abu Dhabi and Dubai, UAE (Matouk Bassiouny) and Khartoum, Sudan (Matouk Bassiouny in association with AIH Law Firm), as well as a country desk covering our Libya practice. Our four offices are strategically located to better serve our clients’ business interests across the entire MENA region.

Our team of over 200 lawyers specialises in advising multinationals, corporations, financial institutions and governmental entities on all legal aspects of investing and doing business in the MENA region.

Trained both locally and internationally in civil and common law systems, our lawyers are deeply ingrained with international best practices and are fully conversant in English, Arabic and French.

Our firm collectively has access to a vast amount of knowledge and experience. We harness this knowledge via our 16 sector-focused groups that support our practice groups. We are therefore able to deliver legal services catered to the industry-specific needs of our clients. Our mission is to find the most innovative and cost-effective solutions for our clients, as we understand that our clients need to drive maximum value from their legal spending. We do this by maintaining a proactive commercial approach to all our legal services.

Team profile

Matouk Bassiouny and AIH Law firm joined forces in 2017 to create Matouk Bassiouny in association with AIH Law Firm, a full-service Sudanese business law firm in Khartoum. We are the first regional firm to open in Sudan. We offer a wide variety of services in the fields of corporate and M&A, finance and projects and dispute resolution. Our ultimate mission, and metric of success, is creating value for our clients.

Mahmoud S. Bassiouny, regional managing partner, regional head of finance and projects, Matouk Bassiouny in association with AIH Law Firm

At a glance: Matouk Bassiouny in association with AIH Law Firm

Headcount: 200+ lawyers, 24 partners, 100+ support staff

Offices: Algiers, Algeria; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Cairo, Egypt; Dubai, UAE; Khartoum, Sudan

Key clients: CDC Group, Uber, Etisalat Misr, Pfizer, LafargeHolcim, Lekela Power, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Development Partners International, Hassan Allam, Hilton

Sponsored briefing: Romanian criminal judicial bodies must comply with fiscal courts’ final judgments

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Sponsored briefing: Romanian criminal judicial bodies must comply with fiscal courts’ final judgments

The Decision of the Romanian Constitutional Court no. 102/17.02.2021 is set to completely change the approach towards tax evasion cases, stating that criminal prosecution bodies must from now on give appropriate consideration to final decisions rendered by fiscal courts that establish the existence or non-existence of a prejudice brought to the consolidated State budget.

In many cases, criminal prosecution bodies are notified regarding a possible tax evasion offence, following fiscal audits carried out by the National Agency for Fiscal Administration. The latter issues administrative and fiscal documents that may be challenged separately, before fiscal courts. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Romanian criminal judicial bodies must comply with fiscal courts’ final judgments”

Sponsored briefing: Q&A with Matouk Bassiouny UAE

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Sponsored briefing: Q&A with Matouk Bassiouny UAE

Can you give our Legal Business readers an overview of Matouk Bassiouny’s practice in the UAE?

Matouk Bassiouny in the UAE was established in 2018, incorporated on the ADGM initially, expanded afterwards in Dubai via a branch office. Matouk Bassiouny in the UAE is a full fledge law firm offering a wide variety of legal services to a wide spectrum of its clientele. In 2021, Jirayr Habibian joined the firm as its managing partner, with an aim to further strengthen the presence of the firm in the UAE, leveraging on the 20 years of experience Jirayr has in the UAE and the wider GCC.

What do you see as the main points that rank Matouk Bassiouny as a leading firm in the UAE legal business market?

Matouk Bassiouny’s competitive edge in the UAE is the ability to leverage on its large and talented regional, as well as its flexibility in allocating resources for any project, no matter how complex or big the project. This allows the firm in the UAE to be more flexible in its structure as well as more responsive to clients.

Furthermore, the quality and turnaround time that Matouk Bassiouny’s team commits towards its client base is an important component of the overall success of the firm.

Given the problems created by the Covid-19 pandemic, how is this affecting your firm and the legal business market generally in the UAE?

In its initial phases, Covid-19 did have an impact on the transactional market, however the contentious market continued to function, especially with the adaptation the courts in the UAE had to implement, as well as the phenomenal speed in the transformation towards a digital judicial system in the UAE. Law firms had to adjust to this transformation and adopt measures to follow which, in our opinion, speeded up the process of digitalising the overall judicial system as well as the law firms.

Further down the line as the markets and businesses resumed from full lockdown, and the very well managed pandemic crisis management adopted by the different local and federal authorities in the UAE, the legal business market naturally picked up and we are seeing more and more return to certain pre-pandemic levels.

Can you talk about any trends or changes in the landscape you are seeing emerge in the UAE legal business market?

The UAE legal market is evolving with the evolution of the legal system in the UAE. In the past several months we have witnessed many changes and amendments to laws that are making the UAE more and more attractive to conducting business. With competition in the GCC region starting to pick up (eg, the changes and opening of the Saudi markets) the UAE had to take further steps to increase and strengthen foreign investments. We have witnessed a liberalisation in the ownership of onshore companies (that has always been a highly protected sector where UAE nationality was mandatory to establish onshore) in a wide spectrum of activities. We are seeing Abu Dhabi, for example, opening up its energy sector (to an extent) to foreign ownership, in addition to a wide range of industrial activities. Furthermore, the UAE is also keeping pace with the ‘digital’ revolution and encouraging many start-ups in many domains. We see fintech being encouraged, alternative agriculture being developed (vertical hydroponics), and crowd funding being regulated more and more.

In a nutshell, the legal system and legal business market in the UAE is growing and keeping pace with what we see in other countries and in some cases even leading the way.

How is your firm positioned for an anticipated resurgence in activity in the UAE legal business market?

Our firm, as mentioned earlier, is very well positioned to take advantage of the resurgence in activity in the UAE legal market, since we have a very active team on the ground, with experience and network in the UAE, backed up by a robust regional structure, which makes Matouk Bassiouny in the UAE very well positioned to react to the market’s needs.

Which sectors are/will be of most interest to foreign investors, and why?

The real estate sector remains a very wanted commodity in the UAE market, however, we see now, with the liberalisation of the foreign ownership, an increasing interest in the healthcare sector (Covid-19 being one of the drivers, in addition to the oncological sector). Namely after the signing of the Abraham Accord, we are seeing an increased interest in the healthcare sector, industrial sector, sustainable energy etc. In parallel, Dubai and the UAE, given its location, remains a very competitive location for trade business, not to forget the increasing importance the UAE has in the fintech and digitalisation areas.

Are there any main changes which you have personally made within the firm that will benefit clients?

Given my very brief history with the firm (I joined on 1 April 2021) I am not in a position to have made any changes yet, although the system laid down by the founders, Omar Bassiouny and John Matouk has so far proven quite efficient with clients in the UAE, a system in which I am planing to leverage and, of course, ultimately introduce certain additions that could and will go along with the intuitu-personae I can contribute to the firm.

What has been your greatest achievement, in a professional and personal capacity?

Again, my time with the firm is yet at its beginning hence I cannot really talk about my greatest achievement within the firm quite yet. I hope that come 2022, should this interview be repeated, I will be able to share some success stories.

For more information, please contact:

Jirayr Habibian, managing partner, Matououk Bassiouny

T: +(971) 4289 2159
E: jirayr.habibian@matoukbassiouny.com

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