Islamic finance lawyer Ahmed Butt has joined Simmons & Simmons Middle East financial markets practice as Of Counsel to focus primarily on the Saudi Arabian market.
Butt was previously in Hogan Lovells' Dubai office where he was a founding member of the Islamic finance team and prior to that worked for international law firms in London and Dubai and spent a period on secondment with Standard Chartered Bank as legal counsel. He has extensive experience in advising lead bank arrangers on complex structured syndicated financings with cross-border security, primarily specializing in Shari'ah compliant syndications in the Middle East, Turkey, Central Asia and South East Asia.
The firm's Middle East financial markets partner, Muneer Khan, said: "Saudi Arabia is a key focus for us and it is a market in which we are making very significant progress.
'Ahmed is a highly regarded banking and finance lawyer and Islamic finance specialist and his addition to our team strengthens our Saudi Arabian and Middle East regional offering."
Butt told The Islamic Globe: "I am very pleased to be joining Simmons & Simmons' highly regarded financial markets team, including the award-winning Islamic finance practice.
"The alliance in Saudi Arabia is unique in that it is with an already prominent domestic law firm, which has existing finance expertise, including Islamic finance. I look forward to contributing to the continued success of the team across the Middle East."
© The Islamic Globe 2011
