Addleshaw Goddard ME launches investment funds practice with new partner Philip Dowsett

Addleshaw Goddard has announced the appointment of Philip Dowsett to spearhead the launch of an Investment Management and Funds practice servicing clients operating to and from the Middle East.

Dowsett joins the Dubai office of Addleshaw Goddard from Dechert and has operated across the Middle East for more than 15 years. He will also join an international team of 30+ lawyers specialising in different aspects of private funds operating across AGs offices in Europe.

He has a market-leading practice advising on fund structuring and formation (including traditional closed-ended funds to structured evergreen platforms, single-asset vehicles, and investment platforms), fund governance, and investment management matters in and across the Middle East. In addition, Dowsett regularly advises on complex cross-border mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, private equity and venture capital matters.

He is singled out as one of only six “Leading Individuals” in “Investment Fund Formation and Management” in the United Arab Emirates by Legal 500, and more generally as one of the most highly regarded M&A lawyers in the Middle East.

His clients include regional and international investors, private equity and venture capital firms (within the DIFC and ADGM and outside), family offices, sovereign wealth funds and corporates. His clients come from a range of industries, including energy, healthcare and life sciences, technology, infrastructure, retail and finance.

Andrew Johnston, Addleshaw Goddard Head of Middle East and Asia, welcomed Philip saying, “Phil is one of the best-known names in his specialist field and we are delighted he has joined us to lead a new service-line and build on the current regional fund matters being handled by the European team. He has worked with fund managers from around the world on their Middle East platforms and structures, as well as regional family offices and corporates looking to establish PE-like structures and his arrival presents an exciting opportunity for us to respond to client demand and quickly establish a highly credible practice spanning the entire investment cycle.”

Philip Dowsett, Addleshaw Goddard partner and head of investment funds MENA, added, “The Middle East is increasingly becoming home to a number of asset managers from the UK, Europe, Asia and other jurisdictions as well as a favourable regime for family offices from the region and outside. I share AGs ambition to build the number one investment funds practice in the region, as well as bolster its leading M&A and Corporate practice, and am looking forward to sharing with clients operating in this space the benefits of a growing full-service platform, especially with AG’s broad Middle East presence in the UAE, Oman, and Qatar, and the opening of a new office in Riyadh.”