Capital markets
Rising stars
Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Basil Al-Jafari helps corporates, governments, and financial institutions navigate the full range of debt and equity capital markets products, including conventional bond and Sukuk issuances, debt restructurings, initial public offerings, rights issues, equity investments, and other general corporate finance matters. His practice covers the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He has acted for underwriters, issuers, and trustees on all types of debt issuances, including investment grade, crossover and high-yield offerings, MTN and Sukuk programs, and a broad range of liability management matters. Prior to re-joining the Dubai office, Mr. Al-Jafari was based in the firm’s Singapore office, where his practice focused on capital markets transactions across Asia.
Leading individuals
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Rizwan Kanji’s practice focuses on debt capital markets, finance and securitizations using both conventional and Islamic finance structures. He advises investment banks, financial institutions, multilateral development banks, sovereign states, insurance companies and multinational regional corporations on high-profile transactions across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. To learn more about Riwan Kanji, please visit his full profile: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/rizwan-kanji.html
Nomaan Raja serves as Office Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins’ Dubai office and the former Local Chair of the Corporate Department. As a market-leading lawyer in the UAE, he maintains a diverse practice helping clients execute corporate transactions throughout the Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining Latham, Mr. Raja practiced with a leading law firm in New York. Mr. Raja advises local and international issuers, government entities, and financial institutions on the full suite of corporate transactions, with industry expertise in oil and gas, telecommunications, energy, and infrastructure. Drawing on his unique expertise, his broad international experience, and sophisticated multi-industry knowledge, he regularly advises clients on: Conventional and Islamic debt capital markets IPOs and equity offerings High-yield bonds Debt restructurings Inbound and outbound investments and corporate finance matters Having been involved in many of the most high-profile and leading debt and equity transactions from the region, including Saudi Aramco’s landmark IPO — the largest in history — Nomaan leverages his institutional knowledge of the market to carefully navigate clients through their most complex transactions.
Alex Roussos is the managing partner of Dentons' Dubai office, and co-head of the Middle East banking and finance practice. He has eighteen years' experience advising on debt, hybrid and equity-linked capital markets transactions. Alex's broad experience has seen him advising governments and government-related entities, all major investment banking clients and large corporate entities across the Middle East on matters including Medium Term Note, convertible bond, hybrid capital and Sukuk issuances, ESG issuances, consent solicitations and structured finance deals, as well as listings on local and international stock exchanges. Alex is also a leading practitioner in the field of regulatory capital and has acted on some of the most high profile deals in this space in the GCC. Alex is ranked Band 1 by Chambers Global 2022 for Capital Markets: Debt – United Arab Emirates, and "Highly Regarded" by IFLR1000 2022 for Capital Markets: Debt.