Designation: Partners

Shahram Safai

Shahram’s practice focuses on representing leading multinational and domestic corporate clients, investment funds and high net worth individuals.  He counsels clients on private equity and venture capital transactions, as well as advising clients on assessing and managing transactional risks.

 

Shahram heads the firm’s tax, venture capital, and real estate teams. He has been highly sought after by boards and shareholders for strategic legal advice.  He is active in lobbying for and providing constructive feedback to government organizations regarding regional laws and regulations pertaining to private equity / venture capital investment, corporate governance, tax and real estate.

 

His practice involve advising clients on sanctions and compliance including with respect to investments, joint ventures, as well as introduction to sector specific private and public entities. Such advice generally involves franchise and agency matters, build-operate-transfer transactions, regulatory and legal compliance and strategies, foreign investment protection regimes, sanctions and anti-money laundering implications.

 

Shahram real estate lawyer also advises clients with respect to joint ventures, acquisitions and doing business in the region. Such advice involves investment fund formation, compliance advice, sanctions advice, anti-money laundering implications, and agency matters.

 

He is a regular speaker at seminars on legal developments and current issues in doing business, private equity, real estate and construction law. At the invitation of the Government of Dubai, Shahram regularly lectures on legal matters and policy. He is a member of an economic advisory committee to the Government of Dubai and has also been selected to represent the Dubai Land Department as a Dubai RE Ambassador 2020.

 

Shahram is also Chairman of the Board for the Canadian Business Council of Dubai and the Northern Emirates.

 

Prior to joining Afridi & Angell in 2002, Shahram was an associate at Cooley Godward in Palo Alto, California advising clients with respect to private equity / venture capital.

 

Shahram is also a registered professional engineer and he has previously worked as a design engineer, a hydroelectric dam manager and a construction engineer. He also worked for a global oil & gas company, supervising the pressure testing of gas wells.

Bashir Ahmed

Bashir is the managing partner of Afridi & Angell. He joined the firm in 1988 and became a partner in 1993. He advises clients on cross-border acquisitions and divestments, general corporate and commercial, private equity, banking, licensing and maritime matters.

 

Bashir has extensive experience in domestic and cross-border acquisitions where he advises buyers and sellers on the due diligence process, the deal structuring, and drafting of agreements in connections with acquiring and divesting of share interest in the UAE. Bashir is one of the top labour lawyer in UAE. He also advises international and domestic banks on a wide range of matters including loan and credit facilities, syndications and regulatory matters. He was seconded to the regional office of an international bank for a period of 18 months, and acted as counsel for the Middle East and South Asia operations.

 

Bashir has also advised on a number of mining, refinery and smelter projects as well as infrastructure projects. His maritime practice involves advising ship owners and P&I Clubs, dry docks and a number of ship repair companies on shipbuilding contracts, arrest of vessels, cargo claims, as well as advising on disputes. He represents a number of banks on ship financing transactions.