Regional news: Africa & Middle East

The former leader of MinterEllison’s mining focus group in Perth has joined Holman Fenwick Willan’s restructuring practice, telling GRR his new firm has a commitment to growth in the APAC and Middle East that will give him a “solid foundation” to help clients expand in those regions.

01 December 2023

A court in the Dubai International Financial Centre has lifted a stay on professional negligence proceedings brought by two subsidiaries of collapsed UAE private equity fund Abraaj against its former auditor KPMG.

30 November 2023

Offshore firm Ogier has launched a new office in the Dubai International Financial Centre led by partner David Welford, a disputes partner previously based in the British Virgin Islands and Jersey, who has credits on Brazilian oil group Constellation’s restructuring.

09 November 2023

Dubai’s Court of Appeal has approved a five-years-in-the-making restructuring plan for struggling construction contractor Drake & Scull, giving it 12 months to implement it.

07 November 2023

The South African High Court has adjourned a winding up petition against a floor covering manufacturer because the Jersey company that brought the application failed to enjoin other affected creditors, including the company’s employees.

31 October 2023

The government of Zambia has reached an in-principle agreement with holders of its Eurobonds, who have agreed to take a US$700 million haircut on almost US$4 billion of claims.

27 October 2023

Documents seen by GRR have shed further light on the first major restructuring in the UAE under its 2016 Bankruptcy Law – a case that local practitioners say shows the Emirates’ onshore courts are just as competent at handling complex group restructurings as their offshore courts.

28 September 2023

There is no common law impediment to enforcing a UAE monetary judgment in the UK that cannot be enforced in the UAE, a Deputy High Court Judge has found, declining to set aside an English default judgment issued against a Lebanese businessman on the basis of personal guarantees that are unenforceable in Abu Dhabi.

22 September 2023

Trustees from Deloitte working with local and international counsel have helped investment group KBBO secure court sanction of the first major restructuring in the UAE under its 2016 Bankruptcy Law, in a case that included super senior money financing from UK investment manager Fidera.

21 September 2023

The English High Court has been asked to consider whether it can enforce two UAE judgment debts that became unenforceable in Abu Dhabi when a recent law limiting the use of personal guarantees was applied retroactively.

19 September 2023