About

Noel Motha came firmly onto the radar with his role in GEMS Education’s 2014 minority-stake sale to private equity funds, including Blackstone (its first ever Middle-Eastern investment). The Dubai-based schools operator is continuing to its viral growth, with 2015’s reports of planned entry into key South East Asian territories. This news occurred concurrently with GEMS’ announcements of planned rebranding and an impending report into the future of the UAE’s education system; the latter of which cements its status as an industry thought leader. ‘The company has many classic attributes found in a family owned business, but is very serious about transforming itself into an international corporate suitable for listing in the not-too-distant future’, Motha says. ‘It has an increasing presence in developing markets, where growing middle class populations are demanding a standard of education which may not be provided by government. GEMS is at the forefront of these initiatives, which often require innovative legal solutions’. Motha’s legal team has led a run of significant strategic transactions over recent years; including multimillion-dollar global financings, a listed sukuk issue and innovative sale and leasebacks. When asked what his greatest challenges have been, Motha says: ‘In a professional sense, holding together a team during 2014’s frenetic activity – probably the most demanding moments of my career’. He left a prestigious career as a private practice construction lawyer to move in-house, over 10 years ago. As an associate at Allen and Overy LLP, he advised on construction documents for London’s Tate Modern development. It was his secondment at Brazil’s National Grid-France Telecom, five years later, which first gave him a taste of the ‘sheer variety’ of the other side. ‘In the unreal environment of Rio, I decided I preferred in-house’. After five years as deputy general counsel to Hitachi Europe’s tech division, Motha made the move to the Middle East in 2007. ‘Dubai’s building and construction industry was at an absolute boom at that point, so it was an obvious choice – I was even busier when the downturn arrived’. During his five years as Dubai World subsidiary, Limitless’ general counsel, Motha advised at board-level on huge global development projects. As somebody who has been driven, throughout his career, by an interest in ‘building something’, the challenges offered by his current role are distinctive in their breadth. ‘By the very nature of the business, the legal team support a wide range of legal situations: from the raw commercial activity of building, owning and operating schools – these can be $100m developments – to the legal support for the education function, which gives rise to everything that humanity can throw up’.