Mark J. Gilligan

Mark utilizes his common law background to counsel clients with respect to the legislative framework and structuring options offered by the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). He has represented many institutional and sovereign investment clients with respect to structuring of their international transactional platforms through the ADGM. Mark also advises on the legislative and regulatory considerations and alternatives applicable when operating in the UAE marketplace, including the corporate formation process both in the UAE and its Free Zones.

Throughout his career in the UAE, Mark has developed working relationships with many UAE regulatory agencies, including the ADGM Registration Authority and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority as well as the Dubai Financial Services Authority and Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA). He regularly assists clients in navigating the regulatory regimes applicable to private equity transactions, fund placement and establishment, and investment management activities in the UAE.

Before joining Morgan Lewis, Mark was a partner at another global law firm.

• Advised a Government Owned Defense Holding Company on a multi-jurisdictional asset and share purchase transaction
• Advised a US based defense contractor with its corporate structuring requirements in the UAE, including working under tight timeframes to establish multiple branch office in preparation for a government tender for the provision of cyber security related services to the UAE government
• Represented a US based publicly quoted global consulting firm on the acquisition, structuring, and sale of various UAE business interests
• Represented a prominent international engineering firm in the potential acquisition of waste treatment facilities in Dubai
• Assisted a privately owned, US-based transportation management company in the negotiation and corporate structuring of a joint venture arrangement with a leading UAE transportation company
• Represented two Korean engineering firms in the formation of separate joint ventures with a publicly traded construction company in Abu Dhabi
• Represented one of the UAE’s prominent trading companies in the negotiation and sale of the distribution rights to an international clothing brand
• Advised on the sale of a strategic interest in a Dubai-based diversified holding group to a regional sovereign investment institution
• Advised a UAE-based food and beverage operation in creating a full suite of documentation for its franchising operations in various Middle East/North Africa (MENA) jurisdictions
• Advised a Singapore-based private equity firm on the purchase of biomedical intellectual property rights from a UAE registered entity, including negotiating all transfer documents and advising on the structuring of security arrangements in compliance with UAE legal requirements
• Advised a UAE-based investment institution with the winding down and liquidation of a DIFC-based asset management firm
• Represented parties involved in the sale of a US-based engineering firm active in the MENA region
• Advised a US-based hotel management company on its employment and corporate structuring requirements in the UAE
• Advised a UAE-based investment management firm on all aspects of its registration with the SCA and the investment managers registration as investment manager to a Luxembourg-based Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities fund with the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier