Clifford Chance

Egypt and Arabophone Africa

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Our Arabophone North Africa practice provides legal advice across Egypt, Libya and Sudan.

Our dedicated Arabophone North Africa Group is based in our offices in the Middle East and consists of lawyers fluent in English, Arabic and French.

Genuine on the ground experience in Egypt

Our team is well versed in the Egyptian business landscape having advised both local Egyptian clients as well as international clients on their interests in Egypt. Our solid track record across a wide range of sectors and specialisms and excellent relationships with leading Egyptian professional advisers sees us appointed on the most complex and innovative deals in the country.

We have relevant experience in Egypt in a variety of industries (banking, energy and natural resources, infrastructure, private equity, telecoms) and across a full range of legal services (from project finance to capital markets, lending, private equity and corporate/M&A, dispute resolution):

• projects and energy: we have a strong track record advising on projects and energy deals, particularly in the renewable energy sector. Key highlights include advising a pan-African renewable energy generation platform on entry into a joint development agreement with a solar technology company in respect of the development of a proposed solar project and advising an international energy group on its bid for a 250MW wind project in Gabal El Zeit.
  
• banking and finance: our team has advised on a number of big-ticket loan facility deals in Egypt, such as advising the lenders (including Bank Audi and National Bank of Egypt) on a US$521 million syndicated financing for Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, a company owned by the Egyptian government.
• Corporate and M&A: we have considerable experience advising international banks on high profile deals in Egypt such as Citi on the sale of its consumer banking business in Egypt, Qatar National Bank on its acquisition of National Société Générale Bank and Ecobank Transnational amongst others.
• private equity: we advise global and regional private equity houses doing business in Egypt and the wider region. We recently advised Actis on the acquisition of a 21% stake in Integrated Diagnostics Holdings.
  
• dispute resolution: our team is currently busy representing a Kuwaiti investor in an ICSID claim for breaches of BIT arising out of a unilateral increase in the gas price and cancellation of free zone licence (resulting in an increase in tax to be paid) by the Egyptian Government.