Drawing on strong lender relationships, Milbank regularly advises banks on new money and restructuring mandates involving Islamic finance structures. Many of these deals are cross-border, with Shariah-compliant debt sitting alongside other conventional funding often for the purposes of facilitating large-scale energy and infrastructure projects in the Middle East. John Dewar is at the forefront of many of the highest-profile matters handled by the team and is particularly skilled at handling first-of-its-kind transactions involving creative structuring and often very complex inter-creditor arrangements. Munib Hussain co-heads the team alongside Dewar and is well-versed at handling a range of Shariah-compliant structures, including sukuks and Murabaha facilities, often acting alongside Dewar on transactions as well as working with other practice groups, including aviation finance, on structures that require input from an Islamic finance perspective.

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Key clients

  • NCB Capital
  • Al Rajhi Bank
  • Alinma Bank
  • Riyad Bank
  • HSBC Saudi Arabia
  • MUFG (Malaysia)
  • National Bank of Kuwait
  • Islamic Development Bank
  • Abu Dhabi Pension Fund
  • Emirates Islamic Bank
  • ADCB

Work highlights

  • Advised the underwriting banks on a first-of-a-kind $11.5bn GMTN Programme (including a Formosa tranche) and an innovative first-of-a-kind $1.5bn sukuk issuance which utilised a proportion of the shares owned by GreenSaif Pipelines SARL (a Blackrock entity) in Aramco Gas Pipelines Company LLC (owned 51% by Saudi Aramco and 49% by GreenSaif Pipelines) as the assets in a wakala-Murabaha sukuk issuance.
  • Advised Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) and commercial and Islamic banks as the lenders in connection with the financial completion of the Rabigh Phase 2 Project.
  • Advised the financing sources on the financing in connection with CVC Capital Partners’ acquisition of a minority stake in GEMS Education. The firm advised on the structuring of both the Islamic and conventional financing options.

Lawyers

Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

John Dewar, Munib Hussain