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Zain Shanqiti

Associate
Dubai
About

Zain is an associate in the Middle East Finance and Projects team advising sponsors, investors and lenders on infrastructure transactions across the Middle East.

Her experience spans project development, project finance, infrastructure M&A and joint ventures, due diligence, transaction documentation, conditions precedent and post-closing work. 

Areas of FocusFinanceMergers and Acquisitions
Professional QualificationsSolicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales
Education
  • University of Law, LLM Legal Practice (SQE 1 & 2), Distinction, 2024
  • Durham University, LLB Law, 2:1 (Honours), 2021
  • Dubai International Academy, IB Diploma Programme (40/45), 2018

EXPERIENCE

  • Advising large-scale water projects (Qurayyah and Rabigh, Rumah and Nairyah). Supporting two Saudi project financings, including leading a workstream for 27 bilateral fee letters, negotiating payment terms, maintaining lender trackers, coordinating signing and closing of EBL facilities and managing an EBL hedge guarantee workstream between sponsors and lenders.
  • Advising financing documentation. Drafting and reviewing fee letters, legal opinions, CP satisfaction letters, corporate authorisations and security-related documents, and using LMA precedents to review definitions and operative clauses in facility documentation.
  • Advising conditions precedent and subsequent. Managing CP reviews and calls, including review and amendment of dual-language documents, and supporting conditions subsequent on a regional healthcare restructuring, including constitutional amendments and share pledge registrations.
  • Advising Project Dinamo due diligence. Coordinated key workstreams in relation to due diligence on a non-performing loan portfolio sale, including EIRC searches, project managing the Arabic translation process with the LDC, flagging cost and schedulingissues, preparing a security matrix, ensuring panel bank billing compliance.
  • Advising Project Takamul. Advising on the proposed combination of an operations and maintenance platform with an international energy-services business. Coordinated across approximately 24 jurisdictions, obtained and consolidated local counsel scope and fee inputs, developed pricing assumptions and mission-based fee estimates, and supported the subsequent cross-border due diligence workstream, including jurisdictional coordination, information requests and key-issues reporting.
  • Advising Etihad Rail Infrastructure joint venture. Advising an international transport operator on its proposed investment in a UAE rail infrastructure joint venture. Supported the matter from pitch through diligence and transaction documentation, manually indexed an unstructured virtual data room, managed the RFI process and risk matrix, coordinated employment, insurance, real estate, competition, regulatory, IP, IT and data protection input, prepared the key-issues report and first draft of an ADGM structuring advice note, and assisted with the share subscription and brand licence arrangements.
  • Advising Project Drip. Advising on the proposed acquisition of interests in Saudi water and wastewater businesses. Reviewed project financing and hedging arrangements, litigation and other diligence materials, managed Q&A and report updates, analysed project-level issues including debt service reserve account funding and distribution restrictions, and supported the mark-up of SPAs, warranties, conditions precedent and specific indemnities. Coordinating specialist input, reviewing financing and hedging documentation and supporting SPA risk allocation and completion planning.
  • Advising construction arbitrations. Supporting major construction arbitrations across the dispute lifecycle, including pleadings, document production, Redfern Schedules, witness interviews and statements, expert reports, hearing preparation and final submissions.
  • Advising independent expert process. Drafting legal and commercial analyses and proposed determinations on four construction disputes for inclusion in an independent expert report.
  • Advising claims analysis. Organising extensive project records and correspondence, preparing chronologies, heads of claim and dispute summaries, researching UAE law in English and Arabic, and maintaining matter action lists and document control.
     
Languages
  • English
  • Arabic

Publications and media

  • Co-author, "DIFC Court of Appeal Clarifies Scope of Jurisdiction to Grant Injunctive Relief in Support of Foreign Proceedings", Practical Law/dlapiper.com.

Additional News

  • Pro bono support to a social enterprise supporting women affected by child marriage, including sales, broker and referral agreements and cross-border input.
  • Experience supervising interns through the DLA Piper Global Scholarship Programme and allocating tasks on infrastructure transactions.

Connect

Phone

+971 52 119 3159
(Work)
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