Developments for UAE Family Businesses
19 January 2024
Nora is a partner in Clyde & Co’s corporate group and is based in the Dubai office. She advises family businesses on restructurings, corporate governance and compliance, shareholder arrangements, succession planning, asset ownership structuring, Shari’a-compliance, dispute resolution, and sustainability of family businesses. In addition, Nora advises clients on their complex domestic and cross-border corporate restructurings.
Direct Lines
+971 4 384 4108 +971 52 323 3895 Nora.Almuhamad@clydeco.aeMain Office
Dubai
+ 971 4 384 4000 + 971 4 384 4004Regional experience
Full Profile
Nora has advised on several corporate transactions, working with clients operating in the education, healthcare, infrastructure, real estate, and retail and consumer sectors.
Nora graduated with a Master of Laws degree (LLM) from Sorbonne Université, France and a Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB) from the University of Damascus, Syria.
Prior to joining Clyde & Co, Nora spent more than 10 years at PwC Legal Middle East and led the family business and corporate restructuring practices.
Nora is fluent in English and Arabic.
Experience
- Advising a UAE public body on the recently introduced federal Family Business law, suggesting enhancements to legislation specific to UAE family businesses to provide them with the tools to improve business sustainability and family unity.
Family businesses
- Advising the National Centre for Family Businesses in Saudi Arabia on recommendations to improve the legal framework for family businesses in the Kingdom. The review involved providing recommendations on amendments to the new commercial companies laws in Saudi Arabia in relation to family owned companies.
- Advising one of the biggest UAE families on their dispute to assess and evaluate the assets related to the estate as well as conducting other activities to assist with the distribution of the estate to the Heirs according to UAE and Islamic inheritance laws.
- Advising a member of the Saudi royal family in relation to his succession planning and restructuring of assets in various countries around the world. This included reviewing the asset portfolio, financing agreements and other key material agreements, drafting a shareholders’ agreement and advising on the optimum structure to hold assets taking into consideration tax/Zakat implications.
- Advising a UAE family business conglomerate on the exit of one shareholder which includes drafting and negotiating the exit terms, drafting the sale and purchase agreement along with transferring the ownership of real estate in accordance with the agreement between the family members/shareholders.
Corporate structuring/restructuring
- Advising Aramex on their pre-sale restructuring (USD 91 million) of their InfoFort business in various Middle East and Africa jurisdictions and the implementation of the new structure, which includes completion of assets/shares transfers with the relevant authorities in each of the in-scope jurisdictions.
- Advising a French conglomerate specialising in luxury goods on the restructuring of their subsidiaries in the UAE and Saudi Arabia which includes designing the distribution, e-commerce, and flow of goods from a legal and regulatory perspective.
- Advising a Middle East retail company that owns and operates more than 50 leading international franchise concepts across the Middle East and North Africa.
- Advising one of the UAE exchange houses on their corporate structure for compliance with the UAE Central bank laws and regulations.
*Experience gained prior to joining Clyde & Co.