Ashurst advises Serco

Ashurst initially advised Serco, the UK FTSE 250 company, on the negotiations for the initial contract for the operation and maintenance of the Dubai Metro (the “Concession”) which was signed back in March 2008 and have recently advised Serco on the renewal of the Concession for a five year extension, which will see the Concession run to September 2019 with the opportunity to extend for a further two years to 2021 (which is expected to be likely now that Dubai has been awarded the World Expo in 2020). The signing of the Concession renewal, which is valued at approximately £355m, closely follows Serco’s signing of the operations contract for the Al Sufouh Tram project in Dubai, upon which Ashurst also advised Serco. These two contracts place Serco at the forefront of the rail industry in the Middle East where there are many anticipated rail projects in the pipeline The Ashurst team was led by the managing partner of Dubai and EMEAA Transport head, Joss Dare, with support from senior associate Yvonne Cross and assisted by associate Jennifer Moore from the Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices.