The Dubai office of International law firm Clyde & Co LLP has advised Thomson Reuters on its acquisition of Zawya Limited (Zawya).
Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals and Zawya, through its operations in the Middle East, is a leading online business intelligence platform in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The deal comprised of the acquisition of shares and commercial interests in Zawya through an auction process. Clyde & Co provided structuring advice and negotiated/drafted transaction documents. Due diligence for the transation had to be turned around quickly on key business areas across a number of jurisdictions – requiring local law knowledge (including UAE, Lebanon and KSA) and specialist Corporate, TMT, IP and Employment input.
Managing Director of Thomson Reuters (Middle East and North Africa), Russell Haworth, commented on the transaction:
“This investment confirms Thomson Reuters role as a key contributor to the growth of local markets through enhancing transparency, offering quality content, helping companies function better, and assisting professionals to make informed business decisions across the MENA markets.
By completing this acquisition, a wider group of users such as small and medium sized enterprises, governments, family offices and financial institutions, in and outside the MENA region, will have access to a single source of information providing rich content, research tools, deep subject matter expertise, and proprietary data.”
The Clyde & Co team advising on the acquisition was led by Dubai based corporate partner Philip O’Riordan with support from Lee Keane and Faisal Buali along with specialist teams from the firms TMT, IP and Employment practices.
Commenting on the transaction, Philip said:
“We are delighted to have been able to guide Thomson Reuters successfully through this transaction and look forward to supporting them and contributing further to their successful and continuing expansion in the region. The acquisition of Zawya by Thomson Reuters has been favourably received by the market and is also indicative of the increased levels of M&A activity we are seeing across the region.”
