Qatari Diar Panel – The In Crowd

Qatari Diar is a trophy client for any firm with property or Middle East pretensions: being in the property company’s good books means working on some of the most prestigious real estate and finance deals across the world. Since it began life seven years ago, The Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company (known to panel firms simply as ‘QD’) has battled with the Candy brothers, financed London’s newest skyscraper the ‘Shard’ and even purchased the US Embassy’s old building in Mayfair. It now has 49 projects with a combined value of $35bn under development or planning in 20 countries around the world.

And to the delight of a handpicked few, the real estate investment company finalised its first-ever law firm panel in March, with 13 different firms making the cut onto one of the six sub-panels (see box, ‘The chosen ones, page 2).

QD was set up in 2005 by the Qatari government’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). The company is run at arm’s length from the government but it is part of ‘Qatar Inc’ and over the years the company has used a wide range of international firms for its legal work (see box, ‘The big projects’, page 3). However, QD has had particularly close ties with Clifford Chance (CC). 

‘We’ve worked with them since their inception about six years ago,’ says Richard Parris, CC’s Qatar managing partner. ‘We’ve done financing, arbitration, some construction and Islamic finance for them – so a very broad range of work.’

Panel beating

The panel process kicked off after a year of change within QD’s relatively small in-house legal team. In June 2011, the company hired two English-qualified senior lawyers: Geraldine Copeland-Wright joined as regional senior legal adviser from property company Tishman Speyer, while projects and construction partner Andrew Walsh joined as acting general counsel from Speechly Bircham. Walsh was on secondment at the property company when he was offered the in-house role in March 2011.

QD did not wish to comment for this article, but panel firms say it has a relatively small
in-house team with Walsh and Copeland-Wright working alongside several junior lawyers. The company also has a small office in London that provides some back up to the Doha-based legal team.

QD began the panel review process in December 2011, sending 46 firms an e-mail inviting them to submit tenders. Partners at panel firms say that the request for proposals was well put together and clear in its demands, and that firms were only allowed to pitch for a maximum of three of the six sub-panels.

By January, the in-house team had whittled down the long list, and in late February a short list of firms was invited to pitch at the company’s flagship offices in the Lusail City development in Doha. By March, 13 international firms were told that they made the grade. The panel is divided into six work streams: hotels and resorts; infrastructure, construction and engineering; real estate finance; corporate and joint ventures; UK projects; and international resources. The appointments started on 1 April 2012 and run for three years and there are between three and five firms making it on to each sub-panel.

‘UK firms have had a significant presence in the Middle East and have historically probably done more work in the Gulf.’ Andrew Wingfield, Simmons & Simmons.  

Details of who made it on to the panel are difficult to come by. Qatari clients are notoriously private and several firms that LB spoke to for this article had signed ‘watertight’ non-disclosure agreements with the company. QD has not publicly announced which firms made it on to the panel. The company hasn’t even told panel firms which other firms are on the sub-panels.

The one statement that QD has made was issued by the company’s chief executive Mohammed bin Ali Al Hedfa in March. In a press release he said: ‘I am delighted that we have appointed these 13 international firms to support Qatari Diar’s global presence across our six panels. Qatari Diar was impressed by the high quality of the proposals received from the firms which participated.’

Of the 13 firms that LB understands are on the panel, three – Hogan Lovells, Berwin Leighton Paisner and Patton Boggs – refused to confirm if they were on the panel or not. However, given their track record of working with QD their inclusion is highly likely. Aside from those three firms, several firms confirmed that they were on the wider panel but would not tell us which sub-panels they had made it on to.

Herbert Smith made it on to three of the sub-panels. ‘We have worked with Qatari Diar for a number of years,’ says Neil Brimson, managing partner of the firm’s Doha office. ‘It is one of the important Qatari entities on our client list and this is one of the reasons why we decided to open in Doha.’

All of the panel firms have worked for, or even opposite, QD in major work in some capacity before. Herbert Smith and Patton Boggs have advised QD on a number of disputes matters over the past few years, while Nabarro and Hogan Lovells have been instructed on a range of UK real estate work. At Patton Boggs, Doha managing partner Robert Hager is admitted to the local Bar and has represented QD in contentious and non-contentious matters related to the Lusail development.

Baker & McKenzie’s Paris office has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with QD, advising on its 2009 acquisition of the Cegelec group from LBO France and the company’s management team. Berwin Leighton Paisner acted for the Olympic Delivery Authority on the sale of the Olympic Village to a joint venture established by Delancey and QD for £557m.

Eversheds has worked with the company for several years and made it on to the international resources panel. ‘I think QD has done a cracking job on this whole panel process,’ says Christopher Jobson, managing partner of Eversheds’ Middle East business. ‘It’s all part of a drive for transparency in the lead up to the World Cup in 2022. It’s a process that has been driven from the top with all government and quasi-government agencies encouraged to adopt more rigorous, sophisticated and transparent procurement systems.’

Qatar future

London-headquartered firms dominate the panel, with ten English firms making the grade and just three US-headquartered firms, Baker & McKenzie, Latham & Watkins and Patton Boggs. In many ways this is unsurprising. QD has a strong record of UK real estate work and English firms have been established in the Middle East longer than many of their US counterparts.

‘I can’t say why QD picked more UK firms, but QD has a requirement for international capability, including significant projects in Britain and, speaking generally, UK firms have had a significant presence in the Middle East and have historically probably done more work in the Gulf,’ says Andrew Wingfield, regional head of Middle East at Simmons & Simmons. ‘We have shown our commitment to Qatar, and I would like to think that being on the ground in Doha makes a difference on panel reviews like this one.’

‘We have seen a trend where a number of entities are either looking at establishing legal panels or reviewing them.’ Neil Brimson, Herbert Smith 

The panel review is not just restricted to QD; it’s also part of a wider trend in Qatar as more companies are looking to formalise the relationships they have with external legal advisers. For instance, Qatar Railways Development Company is also putting its panel out to tender.

‘We have seen a trend where a number of entities are either looking at establishing legal panels or reviewing them,’ says Brimson. ‘Part of the reason is that there are now more international law firms on the ground; and this provides more options for them when they need legal services.’

Since winning its bid to host the World Cup in 2022, Qatar’s international profile has risen considerably. The country had high growth rates of around 20% in 2010 on the back of massive oil and gas reserves. But diversification remains a priority, with oil and gas accounting for more than 50% of GDP and 85% of export earnings. Those impressive growth rates, along with the increasing commitment of the Qatari government to investing in large infrastructure projects has meant that a raft of international firms have made the move into Doha, with panel firms Herbert Smith and Baker & McKenzie both opening in Doha late last year.

It makes for a fierce legal market. ‘The legal market here is very competitive, with a significant number of new arrivals in the last 18 months or so and more firms on their way,’ says Wingfield. ‘Whether that’s sustainable I don’t know. It’s a small country, the size of Yorkshire and, although there are undoubtedly opportunities and interesting projects, there is a finite amount of work to give out.’

None of the firms that LB spoke to for this article would speculate on the workflows that are likely to come out of QD in the next 12 months. But given the large number of deals that QD has already worked on over the past few years, it should be a fairly healthy pipeline. Good news for the lucky 13 that managed to make the cut. LB

becky.pritchard@legalease.co.uk