The international law firm Clyde & Co, has advised Gulf Finance House (GFH), the Bahrain-based investment bank, on the establishment of the first ever Shari'a compliant investment fund created to invest in a strategic mix of commercial properties in France.
Lawyers from the Middle East Regional Office of Clyde & Co in Dubai, worked closely with GFH's Shari'a, legal and tax teams to design a tax efficient, Shari'a compliant structure for the €100 million fund.
According to an executive director of GFH, Rashad Yaqoob, the terms of the deal were complex, but the structure developed meets the requirements of Islamic investors and those lenders involved. Yaqoob went on to say that the first property acquisition, valued at €24 million, had been completed successfully and would be the first of many.
Clyde & Co first established an office in Dubai in 1989. The firm offers legal services in the areas of corporate, company/commercial, finance, construction, shipping, marine, international trade and transport, insurance, reinsurance, litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution, IT, e-commerce, media and intellectual property, including anti-counterfeiting and the registration, protection and management of trade marks.
Clyde & Co has over 400 lawyers and 400 support staff based throughout the world. It has offices in London, Guildford, Cardiff, Paris, Nantes, Piraeus, Dubai, Dubai Media City, Singapore, Hong Kong, Caracas, and associate offices in Belgrade and St Petersburg. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
