About

Mark Alexander Shalaby is a prominent in-house lawyer with an extensive proven track record in corporate finance, project finance, private equity, M&A, and commercial and regulatory activities in the telecommunications, oil, gas and energy sectors. He currently serves as the general counsel for Wind Tre, top of the mobile market in Italy among the main alternative operators in the fixed sector, also sitting on the management committee. Shalaby has emphasised that the purpose of the legal department is to be integrated into all aspects of the business, requiring lawyers to involve themselves in all affairs of the company. Adding to this, Shalaby says he has also ‘simplified the divisions within the function and expanded the department to also encompass regulatory, compliance and security matters. This has enabled the growth of the individual lawyers, while making the entire organisation more structured’. Shalaby prides himself in viewing the role of a lawyer as an all-encompassing one, ranging from being an analytical and consistent protector against risk, to being a pro-active problem solver who enables the achievements of business goals. ‘The ambition is constant to confront challenges and always be eager to learn and mentor from these experiences’, he states. Over his 11 year career at Wind Tre, Shalaby has played a central role in key strategic projects for the group, including the integration of Wind into the VimpelCom group in 2011, the €20bn Wind-H3G merger in 2016 to create Italy’s largest mobile telecommunications company and a multibillion-euro and US dollar financing and refinancing of senior mezzanine and high yield debt financings, including one of Europe’s largest tower business transactions. Each of these projects have required not only Shalaby’s legal analysis but also premium knowledge of commercial, financial, technical and managerial considerations that have enabled him to ‘re-design’ himself and the legal function in the company from providing stand-alone legal advice to being a core contributor to the business.