Best legal adviser
Norton Rose had an excellent year, advising on a host of groundbreaking transactions including several of our deal of the year winners. It befitted a firm that has put 30 years of effort into building an Islamic finance expertise, and can now advise across all the main product areas and jurisdictions (including, since the firm’s integration in South Africa last year, developments in Africa).
Highlights included the Madinah airport expansion and the King’s Reach Tower financing, both discussed in the deal section of the Islamic finance awards; the Republic of Indonesia’s second international sukuk, having advised on the establishment of the first one too; the Majid Al Futtaim group on the restructuring of its $2 billion MTN and $1 billion trust certificate programmes; enforcement of rights in the Saad default; and clients including Arab Banking Corporation, HSBC, JPMorgan, Islamic Development Bank, Standard Group, Development Bank of Kazakhstan and 25 different Islamic transactions in Turkey alone. A particular area of strength is takaful under Susan Dingwall’s leading practice.