• Shearman Sterling named top regional M&A legal advisor

  • The awards preceded the MENA Mergers Forum, hosted in strategic partnership with Baker McKenzie, EY, Standard Bank, AIG, Instinctif Partners and Intralinks

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Mergermarket, the leading provider of M&A data and intelligence, last night announced the winners of its third annual MENA Mergers Forum, recognising the top M&A financial and legal firms in a range of sectors including Energy, Mining & Utilities; Financial Services; Consumer; Pharma, Medical & Biotech; Telecoms; Media & Technology; and Industrials & Chemicals.

Of the financial advisor nominations, Mergermarket named BNP Paribas as the MENA region’s best M&A financial advisor as well as the best financial advisor in the Consumer sector. Winners in other sector rankings included Rothschild for best financial advisor in Industrials & Chemicals; KPMG as best financial advisor in Pharma, Medical and Biotech; EY as best financial advisor in Telecoms, Media & Technology; and Akbank T.A.S as best financial advisor in Energy, Mining, & Utilities. Broadgate Advisors were recognised as the best financial M&A advisors in the Financial Services industry.

Of the legal advisor nominations, Shearman & Sterling was named as the MENA region’s top M&A legal advisor. In the sector rankings, Baker McKenzie was named best legal advisor in Financial Services, and Clifford Chance led the legal advisor rankings in the Industrials & Chemicals, and the Telecoms, Media & Technology sectors. White & Case was named best legal advisor in Pharma, Medical & Biotech; CMS was named best legal advisor in Energy, Mining & Utilities; and Linklaters led the sector rankings in Consumer.

In the Fixed Income space, GIB Capital was recognised as the best Middle East Bonds & Loans Bank.

Speaking on the event, Matthew Robinson, Events Director EMEA at Mergermarket, commented:

“Mergermarket’s league tables which were released earlier this year gave us an idea of the most active M&A advisors in the Middle East. Tonight’s awards go one step further to recognise the work of corporate law firms and investment banks in getting deals across the line. Congratulations to the winners and all who were shortlisted.”

Philip Whitchelo, Vice-President of Strategy & Product Marketing, Intralinks, stated:

“It’s been fascinating to go behind the scenes of some of the most creative and complex transactions in this region. As a sponsor of the MENA M&A Awards we’ve been delighted to congratulate all the winners at tonight’s ceremony, including those that are clients of Intralinks.”

The awards were preceded by the MENA Mergers forum, which featured a series of panel discussions, hosted by high level spokespeople from Gulf Capital Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, NBK Capital Partners (Mezzanine fund) and Abu Dhabi Financial Group, to name a few. The forum was hosted in strategic partnership with Baker McKenzie, EY, Standard Bank, AIG, Instinctif Partners and Intralinks.

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About: MENA Mergers 2018

MENA Mergers 2018 will include the Saudi Breakfast Seminar, the Middle East M&A and Private Equity Forum and the Middle East M&A awards. The forum will focus on the main deal drivers in the MENA M&A market and look ahead to the key investment trends likely to be seen during the coming year. Panels, presentations and case studies will be given by representatives of the Middle East’s leading corporates, investment banks, private equity funds and financial & legal advisory firms. The event will be attended by corporate development and M&A teams, private equity professionals and business owners, investment bankers, financial advisors, lawyers and transaction services professionals. Mergermarket will host MENA Mergers at Jumeirah Emirates Towers, Dubai, on Monday 9th April, in strategic partnership with Baker McKenzie, EY, Standard Bank, AIG, Instinctif Partners and Intralinks. The forum will be followed by Mergermarket’s third annual Middle Eastern M&A Awards, celebrating excellence in M&A legal and financial advisory in the region. For more information: http://events.mergermarket.com/dubai

About: Mergermarket

Mergermarket is the must-have intelligence and news service for anyone involved in mergers and acquisitions. Since the company was founded in 2000 we've expanded to 65 locations across Europe, North & South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. We've also got the largest team of dedicated M&A journalists and analysts anywhere in the world. We’re part of Acuris, which is the fastest-growing business in its sector. For more information: http://www.mergermarket.com/info/

Media enquiries:

Aashti Bawa

Instinctif Partners

+971 56 189 5565

Aashti.bawa@instinctif.com

© Press Release 2018