Paul Homsy
Contact
PRACTICE FOCUS
Paul Homsy has more than 30 years of experience in the Middle East (in the Arabian Gulf countries in particular) and additional experience in cross-border transactions in the Far East, Europe, and Latin America. He has advised on billions of dollars of transactions involving acquisitions, joint ventures, technology transfer agreements, investment funds, and conventional and Sharia compliant financings.
Mr. Homsy practiced law in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for five years as the managing partner of Sidley & Austin’s former office there.
He also has a wealth of practical business experience and relationships among the sovereign wealth funds, ultra high net worth investors, banks, and investment companies of the Arabian Gulf to assist clients in developing and growing their businesses in that region.
REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE
- Represented leading global advertising company in acquisition of and joint venture with the largest privately-owned advertising company in the Middle East, involving subsidiaries in 10 different Arab countries in the Arabian Gulf, the Levant, and North Africa
- Represented leading global consumer products company in establishing a joint venture for the manufacture of personal care products in Saudi Arabia and in obtaining necessary approvals from the Saudi Foreign Capital Investment Committee and Ministry of Commerce
- Represented the largest Islamic bank in the world on about $3 billion of Sharia compliant financings as well as on litigation relating to $120 million of claims against Enron
- Represented leading U.S. bank in the establishment of a Sharia compliant equipment leasing fund
- Represented Kuwaiti investment company in a $300 million Sharia compliant U.S. real estate fund
PUBLICATIONS
- “Succession Planning and the Use of Trusts and Foundations in the Arab Gulf”, Islamic Financial Review, 2016
- “Islamic Private Equity,” Islamic Wealth Management, Euromoney, 2009
- “Islamic Private Equity Opportunities and Challenges,” Islamica Magazine, Spring 2009
- “Distribution and Agency Agreements, Counseling Emerging Companies in Going International,” ABA, Section of International Law and Practice, 1991
- “Saudi Arabian Joint Venture and Agency Law,” Transnational Joint Ventures, Business Laws, Inc., 1989
- “Agency Law in the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa,” Northwestern University Journal of International Law and Business, Summer 1983, reprinted in The International Law Encyclopedia, University of Virginia School of Law
- “Legal Aspects of Doing Business in Saudi Arabia,” International Lawyer, Winter 1982
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS AND MEDIA APPEARANCES
- Eisner Amper Private Equity Real Estate Summit
- Middle East Commentator on CNBC, Bloomberg Television, Reuters TV News Service
- Quoted on the Middle East in the Financial Times, The Economist, Journal of Commerce, Gulf News, and Bermuda Royal Gazette
- Speaker on Islamic Finance at C3 U.S. Arab Business Summit
- Keynote Speaker at the Leaders in Islamic Finance Conference, Istanbul, Turkey, presided over by Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey
- Guest lecturer at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Islamic Finance
- Speaker at various conferences on Middle East Law and Islamic Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, and Harvard University
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