James Osun Sanmi > Dentons > DUBAI, United Arab Emirates > Lawyer Profile

James Osun Sanmi

+971 4 402 0929 [email protected] View profile

Work Department

English law Debt Capital Markets, Capital Markets, Government and Public Services, Financial Institutions

Position

James Osun-Sanmi is a senior associate in the Debt Capital Markets and Islamic Finance practices in Dentons’ Dubai office. He has 9 years’ experience working on a wide range of conventional and Islamic international debt capital markets transactions including advising governments, financial institutions and general corporate clients.

He has extensive experience acting for issuers, dealers and managers on issuances inside and outside the GCC under both Regulation S and Rule 144A formats. He has worked on a wide range of different issuance formats, including standalone issuances, program updates and issuances, regulatory capital issuances, corporate hybrid issuances, ESG issuances, and tender offers and consent solicitations.

James is ranked as a Rising Star by IFLR 1000 and The Legal 500, and was awarded the Rising Star Lawyer of the Year award at the IFLR Middle East Awards 2021.

Career

• DAMAC: Advising Damac on a consent solicitation from the holders of the outstanding US$400 million trust certificates due 2023 issued in April 2018 by Alpha Star Holding V Limited.
• Majid Al Futtaim hybrid issuance: Advising Citi, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank acting as global co-ordinators and ADCB, Citi, Emirates NBD Capital, FAB, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank acting as joint lead managers on the successful issuance of US$500 million Reset Subordinated Perpetual Notes by MAF Global Securities Limited, an spv issuer incorporated in the Cayman Islands. The issuance was irrevocably guaranteed, on a joint and several basis, by Majid Al Futtaim Holding LLC and Majid Al Futtaim Properties LLC.
• Warba Bank: Advising Warba Bank on its tender offer in respect of its outstanding US$250 million Tier 1 Capital Certificates and a new debt issuance of US$250,000,000 Tier 1 Capital Certificates. The amount of existing Tier 1 Capital Certificates tendered and redeemed was US$101,947,000.
• Majid Al Futtaim sukuk programme: Advising HSBC, SCB, ADIB and DIB on the restructuring of MAF’s US$3 billion Trust Certificate Issuance Programme following significant changes to Shariah standards, including AAOIFI 59. Our work included removing the Ijara component from the structure and adding mechanics on tangibility put options, the transferability of assets and the role of the Shariah advisor, and explaining these changes to the credit rating agencies in order to ensure that the programme maintained investment grade rating.
• National Bank of Oman: Advising the bank on the issuance of new Additional Tier 1 bonds and the redemption of its existing Additional tier 1 bonds.

Languages

English

Memberships

Solicitor, Senior Courts of England and Wales, 2013

Education

University of Oxford, 2009, BA, Jurisprudence