Hadef & Partners were pioneers in the Capital Markets sector in the UAE and handled the first ever IPO in the UAE for Abu Dhabi Ship Building PJSC in 1996. This followed a series of IPOs led by Hadef & Partners including the likes of Aldar Properties PJSC and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC.
A substantial component of our expertise lies in our knowledge of the UAE market, its practices, procedures and the workings of UAE regulatory bodies. Our lawyers have developed good relationships with the securities markets’ regulators, the Securities and Commodities Authority of the UAE.
Whilst these times of unprecedented global financial turmoil have seen a dramatic drop in the number of IPOs completing in the UAE and the Middle East region as a whole, our depth of experience in helping some of the UAE’s highest profile companies go public and raise the capital necessary to see them reach the next level continues to stand us in good stead when it comes to advising clients looking to achieve the same results.
In addition to having been at the forefront of the development of the securities and capital markets in the UAE, Hadef & Partners continues to be able to draw upon the experience of our lawyers from other jurisdictions with longer-established securities markets (including the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia), and this enables us to apply a considered logic to regulated securities work, including initial public offerings in the Dubai and Abu Dhabi markets, even in circumstances where there may not yet be any direct precedent in those markets themselves.
We are regarded as market-leading both for transactional and advisory work. With acknowledged expertise in Corporate, M&A, Private Equity and Banking and Finance, our clients include corporations, financial institutions, governmental authorities, issuers, arrangers, underwriters and private equity participants in a range of sectors.
We have led the industry on numerous matters, such as playing an instrumental role in establishing the legal framework governing private placements and IPO prospectus preparation in the UAE. Indeed, our lawyers pioneered western style IPOs in the UAE and have advised on more IPOs in Abu Dhabi and Dubai than any other law firm. On many occasions, we assisted in the creation of the procedures and standards used by governmental authorities.
Our market-leading team has worked on many of the UAE’s more complex and challenging transactions. We are known for our thoroughness, whilst maintaining a pragmatic and commercially astute approach.