Toufic Safie
Stephenson Harwood Middle East LLPStephenson Harwood Middle East LLP leverages the full scale of its Middle East practice to competently advise clients on energy and infrastructure projects, covering M&A, finance, project development, and disputes. The practice is co-led by Rustum Shah and Ron Nobbs, with the former focused on project finance for financial institutions and the latter highly regarded for his track record in construction and engineering disputes. In addition, Diwakar Agarwal regularly acts on M&A in the technology, healthcare and energy sectors. Toufic Safie continues to be active on social infrastructure mandates, while Murtaza Hussain is instrumental to the firm’s cross-border project financings. Iwan Walters joined the firm in March 2025.
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Key clients
- Yellow Door Energy
- Orwell Offshore
- GradeOne
- Samsung SDS ME & Africa
- UltraTech Cement Ltd
- Al Dahra Group
- The Omniyat Group
- Abu Dhabi Ports Group / CMA Terminals
- Axis Bank Ltd
- National Bank of Fujairah
- ICICI Bank Limited
- Chart Industries
Work highlights
- Advised Yellow Door Energy on a multi-million term loan financing facility with the Arab Banking Corporation for the acquisition, design, commissioning and construction costs of a cross-border portfolio of solar projects across the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman, comprising of 25 solar photovoltaic assets. This required advice on a suite of finance and security agreements, as well as on the underlying project documents and incorporating advanced ESG metrics into the facility agreements.
- Advising 44.01 Limited in relation to multi-jurisdictional collaboration with a carbon dioxide capture partner, based in the US, under which large amounts of carbon dioxide will be collected from a project site located in Oman for mineralisation by 44.01 Limited leading to the creation and sale of carbon credits.
- Advised Esyasoft Holding Ltd, a Dubai-based software as a service products and solutions technology company that specialises in providing smart grid solutions within the energy, water, and utilities sectors, on its acquisition of a 70% stake in Float IoT, an innovative Internet of Things (IoT) company located in the Netherlands.
Lawyers
Leading associates
Leading associates with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Rustum Shah, Ron Nobbs