Norton Rose has relocated corporate partner Andrew Lewis to Dubai from New Zealand, taking the partner Dubai headcount to nine.
His appointment numbers Norton Rose’s Middle East offering at 12 partners across Dubai, Bahrain, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.
“The market in the Middle East is moving ahead, with financial institutions and sovereign wealth funds looking to do large and more complex deals. You have to staff your offices with experienced people to do these transactions,” said corporate chief Tim Marsden.
Lewis, who focuses on private equity and venture capital work, is the second recent Norton Rose hire from New Zealand. The firm brought corporate finance partner Andrew Abernethy into its Dubai arm from Bell Gully in June. Lewis was previously a partner with Simpson Grierson in Auckland.
Norton Rose opened its Abu Dhabi office in May, with regional head Campbell Steedman relocating to the new office. The firm’s Saudi practice went live at the beginning of this year through an alliance with local practice Abdulaziz Al-Assaf.
The firm recently advised HSBC on the US$1.86bn (£946m) refinancing of a project in Saudi Arabia. Bahrain chief Dominic Harvey took the lead role for HSBC, with Dubai banking partner Karl Rogers and construction partner Martin Preston assisting