Sidley is pleased to welcome Ali Shaikley as a partner in its global M&A and Private Equity practice in New York. Prior to joining Sidley, Mr. Shaikley was a partner at White & Case where he worked in the firm’s Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices on a wide range of cross-border and domestic corporate and equity capital markets transactions.
Mr. Shaikley’s international practice focuses on advising companies and investors based in the Middle East on matters related to M&A, private equity, equity capital markets transactions, and general corporate counseling. He holds strong relationships with private equity sponsors, government-related entities, investment banks, family offices, and other investors throughout the Middle East, having advised on numerous transactions across the globe.
His practice also complements the firm’s existing global Equity Capital Markets offering, which represents issuers, underwriters, and other financial intermediaries in structuring and executing securities transactions and disclosure matters in all of the world’s major financial markets. Mr. Shaikley has led on a number of significant initial public offerings (IPO) and other equity capital markets transactions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and the U.S., including having advised the issuer of the largest ever IPO in Dubai.
“Ali’s arrival will boost our growing team of Middle East-focused lawyers as we continue to see an uptick in supporting investors and companies in the region on high-profile cross-border matters,” said Yvette Ostolaza, Sidley’s Management Committee chair and an Executive Committee member. “Ali is our second significant hire with substantial experience and knowledge in Middle East transactions, following the recent arrival of Michiel Visser, and will help drive our growth in the region. His widely respected expertise, fluency in Arabic, and experience in cross-border transactions will help us further strengthen our expanding offering to clients in the region.”
In addition to Mr. Visser, Mr. Shaikley also worked with Germaine Nicole Gurr, who joined Sidley’s M&A and Private Equity practice in New York last month.
“Ali’s experience and strong relationships with key players across the Middle East is highly synergistic with Sidley’s growing global M&A and Private Equity practice as we enhance our world-class offering and capture more transactional and advisory work connected to the region,” said Brian Fahrney, co-leader of the firm’s global M&A and Private Equity practice and a member of Sidley’s Management and Executive Committees. “Continuing to attract highly talented, internationally focused individuals to our nearly 500 lawyers in the global M&A and Private Equity practice remains a priority for the firm as we continue our high-growth trajectory in markets where our clients conduct business.”
“His experience in markets around the world, and in particular in the Middle East, will be highly valued by our clients who turn to Sidley’s world-class offering to exploit new cross-border transactional and investment opportunities,” said Tom Thesing, a member of Sidley’s Management and Executive Committees and managing partner of Sidley’s office in London. “I have no doubt Ali will make an immediate impact, and I know our European colleagues, as well as the global team, are excited to work with our Middle East team on transactions all over the world.”
Sidley’s preeminent global M&A and Private Equity practice has nearly 500 lawyers that are engaged in the full spectrum of public and private mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions across a variety of industries, including energy, life sciences, sports, entertainment, real estate, consumer products, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, technology, media and telecoms, financial services and insurance, and metals and mining. The practice was recently honored as a 2022 “Practice Group of the Year” by Law360 in the Private Equity category.
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