DLA Piper advises on Qatari investment into Spanish Group

DLA Piper has advised Al Alfia Holding LLC, a Qatar based holding company owned by a senior Qatari  investor, on its €40 million investment in Ecisa Compañía General de Construcciones, a Spanish based international construction group. Lawyers based in the Doha and Madrid offices advised on the transaction which will support the Ecisa group's international expansion with a goal set of tripling 2013 revenues by 2018.  The partnership with Al Alfia also allows the group to enter new sectors including oil and gas.

The investment took place at three levels within the group with Al Alfia taking a 25 per cent stake in the Spanish holding entity, coupled with additional expansion capital and a 51 per cent interest in the Qatar based subsidiary Harinsa Contracting Company also coupled with additional expansion capital. 

The transaction involved a cross-border due diligence process led by the Doha office, covering Ecisa group entities in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Ireland, Taiwan, Mozambique, Chile, Algeria and Morocco.  The teams in Doha and Madrid then simultaneously negotiated the investment documentation in their respective jurisdictions, providing coordinated on the ground support to the client through to completion.   

The DLA Piper team was led by Partners Mel Sims (Doha) and Joaquin Echanove (Madrid) and the core transactional team featured Richard Hughes (senior legal consultant, Doha), Santiago Lardies (legal director, Madrid), Mohammed Tartir (legal consultant, Doha) and Claudia Moro (associate, Madrid).  Phil Hecht (senior legal consultant, Abu Dhabi) provided specialist Middle East construction advice.