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Our news
About the practice
Know-how and materials
Islamic finance banking contacts
Our news
About the practice
The Islamic finance banking group is part of Allen & Overy's market leading Global Loans practice. Our reputation as the premier firm in this market is based on our commercial understanding of what our clients are trying to achieve, the quality of our documentation and our ability to deliver a high value service within tight timeframes. Islamic finance is an integral part of this practice which covers syndicated lending, investment grade and leveraged acquisition finance, structured finance, telecoms finance and real estate financing.
We have the ability to handle the full range of Islamic banking work, including murabaha, tawarruq, ijara, istisna'a and musharaka based financings and have been involved in a number of landmark award winning Islamic banking transactions. We take an integrated approach to Islamic banking and our Islamic finance specialists also specialise in the full range of banking work. This gives us an unrivalled ability to provide our Islamic banking clients with a high level of service.
Our team in London works closely with our offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Riyadh to provide seamless multi-jurisdictional advice on cross-border Islamic banking transactions. We also have long-standing relationships with key players in the Islamic banking market which enables us to keep up to date with the latest trends in the industry and provide our Islamic banking clients with innovative solutions.
Know-how and materials
Islamic finance banking contacts
Mike Duncan
Mike Duncan is Chairman of the Global Banking Practice at Allen & Overy LLP. He has wide ranging corporate finance and banking experience, including the structuring, drafting and negotiation of debt transactions, advising banks and borrowers on syndicated loans, leveraged financing, asset financing and trade finance.
Recent Islamic finance experience has included advising on the restructuring of Islamic facilities for Aston Martin, Bank TuranAlem and Nakheel.
mike.duncan@allenovery.com
Bimal Desai
Bimal Desai is Head of Allen & Overy's banking practice in Dubai and a member of the firm's Islamic finance group. He has significant experience on a wide range of Islamic finance products including general syndicated loans, project and other forms of structured finance, structured on a Shari'a-compliant basis.
Bimal is ranked as one of the World's Leading Islamic Finance Lawyers by IFLR and as one of the World's Leading Lawyers for Islamic Energy Finance and Islamic Project Finance lawyers by Islamic Finance News.
He is also recognised as one the World's Leading Banking Lawyers by Who's Who Legal Banking 2010 and named one of the world's "most highly-regarded individuals" in International Who's Who of Project Finance Lawyers 2009.
bimal.desai@allenovery.com
Atif Hanif
Atif Hanif is a senior associate in the Banking Department of Allen & Overy LLP. Atif advises on a wide range of banking and finance transactions and specialises in Islamic finance. He has extensive experience of acting for financiers, borrowers and project sponsors. Atif is responsible for coordinating the European Islamic Finance Group at Allen & Overy LLP. He is fluent in both Urdu and English and also speaks, reads and writes Arabic.
Atif’s recent experience includes advising Deutsche Bank on a shariah-compliant USD100 million convertible murabaha facility made available to Gulf Finance House B.S.C. (Islamic Finance News Awards 2009 – Equity Deal of the Year); Saudi Electricity Company on the issue of SAR7 billion (equivalent to USD1.87 billion) investment sukuk in Saudi Arabia, the only public issuance in Saudi Arabia in 2009 (Islamic Finance News Awards 2009 – Country Deal of the Year for Saudi Arabia) and Citibank on the USD60 million murabaha facility for Derindere Turizm Otomotiv San Tic S.A. (Islamic Finance News Awards 2007 – Best Country Deals: Turkey).
atif.hanif@allenovery.com
Amar Meher
Amar Meher is a Senior Associate in Allen & Overy LLP's banking practice in Dubai and a member of the firm's Islamic finance group. Amar has spent time in both the Dubai and London offices of Allen & Overy LLP and specialises in Islamic finance, corporate, project and general conventional banking finance. Amar has worked on numerous high profile Islamic financings across various product areas ranging from the bank market to the capital markets and has been the lead associate on numerous innovative deals which have been the first of their type.
Amar is ranked as one of the World's Leading Islamic Finance Lawyers by IFLR and Islamic Finance News and as one of the World's Leading Lawyers for Shari'a Investment Funds by Islamic Finance News.
amar.meher@allenovery.com
Further information
Find out more about Allen & Overy's Islamic Finance Group.