Baker McKenzie Moves Top Funds Partner to #AbuDhabi From London - Bloomberg

Baker McKenzie Moves Top Funds Partner to Abu Dhabi From London - Bloomberg

Global law firm Baker McKenzie is relocating one of its top partners from London to Abu Dhabi, as part of efforts to strengthen its Middle Eastern offering for investment fund and private equity transactions.

James Burdett will join the firm’s United Arab Emirates team from April 1, according to a statement seen by Bloomberg News. He previously ran the firm’s London investment funds group for just under two decades.

The relocation reflects “the sharp uptick that we have seen in private capital activity in the UAE and throughout the region and the increase in fundraising from or focused on the region,” David Allen, co-head of Baker McKenzie’s corporate practice for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said in the statement.

Burdett, whose practice covers a broad range of institutional funds and investment structures, also has experience representing sovereign wealth funds. The Middle East is home to state-backed investors that control close to $4 trillion in assets. That includes entities in Abu Dhabi, which is one of few cities in the world with about $1.5 trillion in sovereign wealth capital.

In an increasingly difficult environment for fundraising, these investors have been sought out by the world’s largest private equity funds. They’ve also played a central role in getting private equity takeovers over the line in an otherwise subdued market.

Abu Dhabi’s financial heft has already helped draw heavyweights into the region. Brevan Howard Asset Management now manages more money from the emirate than it does anywhere else. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Rothschild & Co. and Morgan Stanley are among the global financial firms opening up offices in the emirate.

“Our firm recognizes the importance of having a full service investment funds and private equity offering in the backyard of many of our key clients in both Abu Dhabi and the wider region,” said Osama Audi, the Abu Dhabi-based head of Baker McKenzie’s UAE corporate practice.