Clyde & Co enters the Egypt market; to operate as Barakat Maher & Partners Advocates & Legal Consultants

Clyde & Co enters the Egypt market; to operate as Barakat Maher & Partners Advocates & Legal Consultants

Clyde & Co, a leading London-based global law firm, has opened a new office in Cairo, Egypt. The office will be run as Barakat Maher & Partners Advocates & Legal Consultants, a new firm that will work in association with Clyde & Co. The office has been established by relocating two of Clyde & Co's lawyers and hiring two additional lawyers from Baker McKenzie. The goal of this move is to tap into Clyde & Co's market-leading network of Middle East offices and offer additional resources and expertise to clients in the region.

Mohamed Barakat, a senior US-qualified corporate and M&A lawyer, will lead the office as its managing partner. Barakat had joined Clydes in Dubai late last year from Baker McKenzie, where he was a partner.

The Cairo office will include Sherif Ali Maher, a legal director and disputes specialist from Clyde & Co, and two corporate lawyers who have joined from Baker McKenzie's local office: Mostafa Elsakaa and Sameh Dahroug. All three lawyers will be partners in the new associated office.

According to Clydes' CEO Matthew Kelsall, Egypt is a significant gateway between the Middle East and Africa and a hub of trade and commercial activity in the region.

"The new association gives us an opportunity to provide clients with access to and support within this market and the North Africa region more broadly. We look forward to working with Mohamed and the team to maximise the potential this opening provides," Kelsall said.

The Cairo office will provide legal services in a wide range of areas, including capital markets, corporate and M&A, commercial, commercial disputes and international arbitration, employment, finance, regulatory, and restructuring.

While Barakat, who has over 17 years of legal experience across the US and the Middle East, advises clients on complex M&A and restructuring transactions in the energy, financial services, infrastructure, and real estate sectors, Maher advises local and international clients on contentious commercial matters across the MENA region.

Maher has been with Clydes since 2013 and will continue to be a legal director in the firm's dispute resolution team, splitting his time between its office in Dubai and Cairo.

Egyptian-qualified Elsakaa and Dahroug bring more than 15 years of advising corporate and financial investor clients working in Egypt. Elsakaa focuses on debt and equity capital market transactions, public M&A, and non-banking activities, while Dahroug's practice covers M&A, restructurings, private equity, and IPOs.

According to Barakat, Egypt is the second-largest Arab economy and has a well-developed and diverse economy.

"This represents a huge opportunity for us, as part of Clyde & Co's global network, to represent an increasing number of clients who are doing business across the Middle East and Africa," Barakat said.