DUBAI - 18 March, 2015

Squire Patton Boggs is pleased to announce that Douglas G. Smith has joined the firm's Global Corporate Practice Group as Of Counsel in the Dubai office, at the same time as new Corporate Associate Radwa Al-Rifai. In addition, Financial Services Partner Tomas Cerdan is transferring from the firm's London office to Dubai this month. The moves give a significant boost to Squire Patton Boggs' capabilities in corporate, commercial and financial services expertise in the region.

Douglas Smith joins from Jakarta-based law firm SSEK. Prior to his work in Indonesia, he was based in Dubai as Head of the Corporate Commercial department at the law firm Habib Al Mulla. Ms. Al-Rifai joins Squire Patton Boggs from the Corporate department of Helmy, Hamza & Partners (Baker & McKenzie) in Cairo.

"We're delighted to welcome Doug back to the Gulf and to have Radwa and Tom also join the team here," said Tom Wilson, managing partner of Squire Patton Boggs' Dubai office. "Doug has a formidable track-record of advising on global business transactions, but an equally impressive and detailed knowledge of the markets here in the Middle East. Tom is an accomplished capital markets and banking specialist who has been working with clients in this region for many years; and Radwa is an experienced and versatile lawyer who is equally at home in corporate/commercial and financial services matters Our offices in this part of world are getting busier and busier, with unprecedented activity at the local, regional and international level, so having the additional knowledge and insight of our three new colleagues will be of enormous value to clients."

An expert in cross-border corporate transactions, Mr. Smith focuses on M&A, private equity, corporate finance, and commercial structures such as JVs, together with corporate governance and regulatory matters. With 30 years' experience of global corporate and business law, Mr. Smith has advised clients across the Middle East, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman, and in numerous Asian countries, such as China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and India. He has spent over a dozen years practicing in East and South-East Asia, including as managing partner of the Hong Kong offices of Canadian firm Stikeman Elliott.

Mr. Smith has experience of a wide range of sectors, particularly financial services, manufacturing, real estate, infrastructure and construction, and hotels and leisure. Among his representative cross-border work are advising a New York PE fund's Singapore-based operating subsidiary on the US$300 million acquisition of two Indonesian specialty chemicals manufacturers; acting for a France-based hotel management company on its entry into the UAE market and the development of three hotel properties in Abu Dhabi and Dubai; and advising a US-based defence manufacturer on the procurement of surveillances systems by the UAE's Union Defence Force. Qualified in Ontario, Hong Kong, and England and Wales, Mr. Smith is also a regular speaker at international legal forums and business summits in the Middle East, Asia and North America.

Tomas Cerdan is well-known for his extensive capital markets, restructuring and other capital raising expertise. He has acted for leading investment banks, issuers, borrowers and sovereign wealth funds on a broad range of transactions across Europe, Russia and the CIS, the Middle East and Africa. Among his work in the MENA region is advising Qatar Holding on its US$2.7 billion investment in bonds of Banco Santander exchangeable into domestic units of Banco Santander Brasil, and advising Goldman Sachs International on a pre-IPO structured financing for an Egyptian property development company. Mr. Cerdan has advised Saudi Hollandi Capital in connection with a private placement by Saudi Hollandi Bank of SAR775 million (US$207 million) Mudaraba certificates due 2018 callable with step up in 2013 qualifying as Tier II capital for Saudi Arabian regulatory purposes, a transaction that was awarded Equity Deal of the Year 2008 at the annual Islamic Finance News Awards.

Radwa Al-Rifai has seven years' experience of advising on complex corporate, commercial and finance law matters in Egypt. She has acted for a range of domestic and multinational clients on M&A, corporate structuring, finance and banking issues, IPOs, licensing and regulatory requirements. Among her representative work are advising a major hotel group on an EGP 350 million land acquisition, licensing and regulation transaction; advising a multinational financial services corporation on new product launches in the Egyptian market; and advising a regional insurance group on the compliance of their takaful policy with local laws and contracts. Bi-lingual in Arabic and English, Ms. Al-Rifai is a graduate of Indiana and Cairo universities and qualified at the Egyptian Bar.

Jane Haxby, EMEA chair of Squire Patton Boggs' Global Corporate Practice Group, commented: "The Middle East is a key area for our practice, and here, as elsewhere, our strategy is to continue to develop in-depth local knowledge alongside an expanding global reach. We're pleased to have in Doug and Radwa excellent corporate specialists who know local markets and can turn their hands to the most complex of transactions in multiple jurisdictions; while Tom's international capital markets experience is unrivalled and his technical skills and commercial understanding will be a huge local resource."

Andrew Knight, EMEA head of the firm's Financial Services Practice Group, added: "Tom Cerdan is already well known to many in the banking community in the Gulf and will play a key role in our growing financial services practice across the region."

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About Squire Patton Boggs
Squire Patton Boggs is one of the world's strongest integrated legal practices. With 44 offices in 21 countries, the firm is renowned for its local connections and global influence, delivering comprehensive legal services across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. With expertise spanning all key sectors, the firm is also known for its preeminent public policy practice and deep-rooted relationships in Washington DC and Brussels. For more information, visit www.squirepattonboggs.com

© Press Release 2015