Gamal M. Abouali’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions, and projects. He has extensive experience in cross-border transactions, and throughout his career has had a truly global practice.

Gamal joined the firm in 1997 and became partner in 2006. Before opening the Abu Dhabi office in 2012, he was resident in the New York and Paris offices.

Notable Experience

Mergers and Acquisitions

  • Several leading UAE sovereign wealth funds in co-investments, fund and other direct investments in numerous multibillion-dollar transactions

  • OMV in connection with its purchase of a 15% stake in ADNOC Refining, giving the unit an enterprise value of $19.3 billion

  • OCI in its strategic partnership with ADNOC, combining ADNOC Fertilizer with OCI’s MENA nitrogen fertilizer platform to form a new joint venture which will become the largest export-focused nitrogen fertilizer platform globally

  • OCI in its €310 million acquisition of DSM Agro and DSM Melamine from Royal DSM

  • ADIA in connection with its participation in a consortium with EQT Fund Management S.à r.l. and other renowned institutional investors, in exclusive negotiations to acquire Nestlé Skin Health from Nestlé S.A. for an enterprise value of CHF 10.2 billion

  • ADIA and TPG in a $1.2 billion joint equity investment into UPL Corporation Limited (UPLC), the international arm of UPL Limited

  • Wind Telecom S.p.A. (formerly Weather Investments S.p.A.), the mobile telecommunications company led by Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris, in its combination with VimpelCom, in a deal valued at $21 billion, creating one of the world’s largest mobile telecommunications carriers

  • Weather Investments II in its sale of common shares in VimpelCom to Altimo for $3.6 billion.

  • Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding in the $1 billion sale of its direct and indirect stakes in MobiNil to Orange and resulting mandatory tender offer by Orange

  • Lafarge in its $15 billion acquisition (including the assumption of debt) of the cement business of Orascom Construction Industries and in the entry of the Sawiris family, OCI’s reference shareholders, in Lafarge’s share capital

  • Etisalat in its acquisition of Atlantique Telecom in four phases

  • Finmeccanica and its subsidiaries Alenia Aeronautica and Alenia Aermacchi in hi-tech industrial partnerships in the aerospace sector with Mubadala Development Company

  • Philip Morris International in its acquisition of 49% of the shares of Arab Investors-TA for $625 million and in its agreement with Trans-Emirates Trading & Investment to create a new cigarette manufacturing and distribution JV in Egypt

See More

Capital Markets

  • Republic of Iraq in the offering of $1 billion senior notes, Iraq’s first ever standalone “new money” international debt offering

  • Republic of Iraq in its $1 billion notes offering backed by a guarantee issued by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

  • Abu Dhabi Department of Finance on the establishment of a program for the issuance of short-term securities by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi

  • Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates in connection with the establishment of a post-trade clearing and settlement system for United Arab Emirates sovereign debt securities, through the use of Euroclear’s international link (i-link) platform

  • Varkey Group as controlling shareholder in connection with the proposed IPO of GEMS

  • Al Othman Commercial Enterprises Company WLL in connection with an accelerated bookbuild offering of shares in HumanSoft Holding Company K.S.C.P.

  • ArcelorMittal in over $10 billion of SEC-registered debt and equity offerings

  • Block trade offering of ordinary shares in Engro Fertilizers Limited by its controlling shareholder, Engro Corporation

  • Credit Suisse Securities, Deutsche Bank AG, Arif Habib, and Elixir Securities Pakistan in a $1.02 billion Reg S/Rule 144A secondary offering of shares in Habib Bank Limited by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, representing Pakistan’s largest ever equity offering

  • BNP Paribas, Citigroup, and NBK Capital as joint bookrunners in the IPO of Zain’s Iraqi subsidiary

  • Jordanian Government in the $132 million IPO of the state-owned Jordan Telecom Group

  • Beltone Investment Banking as sole underwriter in the $200 million Reg S/Rule 144A IPO by Amer Group Holding Company

  • Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs International, and BMA Capital Management in the proposed secondary offering of shares in Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) in the form of shares and GDSs by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

See More

Projects

  • Abu Dhabi Municipality and Parsons on a project for the retrofit of street lighting in Abu Dhabi, which is the first PPP project in the Emirate

  • The Ministry of Oil of the Republic of Iraq in connection with the Basrah Gas Project, a joint venture between South Gas Company, Shell, and Mitsubishi to process associated natural gas produced at certain oil fields in the Basrah region, and for the domestic and export sale of the related liquids and dry gas

  • The Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water in the first licensing round for hydrocarbon exploration within the Lebanese offshore Exclusive Economic Zone

  • Ministry of Oil of the Republic of Iraq in connection with:

    • the Third Licensing Round, pursuant to which service contracts were awarded to three international consortia
    • various financing options related to the construction of the Karbala refinery
  • Mittal Investments in a joint venture with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation to provide for the construction and operation of a nine million MTPA greenfield refinery, a pipeline, and a crude oil terminal with associated facilities in Mundra

  • Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and Kuwait Oil Company in Project Kuwait, in an operating services agreement with a consortium of international oil companies

See More

Disputes

  • Public Institution for Social Security of Kuwait in managing its exposure to the Abraaj Group and to funds managed by Adamas

See More

Publications

Events