Latest news with #AddleshawGoddard
The Herald Scotland
4 days ago
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
'Flight to quality' defining major Scots property market
New or Grade A office accommodation accounted for around 66% of take-up in Scotland last year, as occupants homed in on high-quality, amenity-tich and well-located environments, with flexibility in both lease terms and space usage, research from Knight Frank has found. This demand has been exerting upward pressure on rental levels in Scotland's two biggest cities, with prime rents in Edinburgh found to have achieved £46 per square foot - exceeding the £45 per sq ft "milestone" reached by the end of last year. Glasgow rents surpassed £40 per square foot, rising to £41.50 per sq ft, according to the property consultant's Scotland Report 2025. Rents in Aberdeen remained stabled at £32.50 per sq ft. The Knight Frank report underlines the recovery of the Scottish property market since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic more than five years ago. Edinburgh rents have increased by 30% and in Glasgow they have risen by 28% since March 2025, the agent found. However, while tenants have embarked on a 'flight to quality', the amount of space they are seeking has been falling. While deal volumes in Glasgow and Edinburgh rose by 30% and 13% in 2024, transactions for offices below 10,000 sq ft in size accounted for 91% of the Scottish market, signalling that flexibility has become a bigger priority than total square footage. Read more: Notable deals concluded recently have included engineering group WSP committing to 18,500 of space at 110 Queen Street in Glasgow, and law firm Addleshaw Goddard taking 30,000 sq at St Andrew Square in Edinburgh. Energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie signed up to a similarly sized space to the latter at Waverley Gate in the Scottish capital. Toby Withall, office agency partner at Knight Frank, said: 'There is a clear trend in occupier requirements – they are increasingly prioritising buildings which offer amenities and flexibility. The space they use needs to be capable of adapting to fluctuating workforce sizes and the uncertain economic backdrop we have seen over the past couple of years, which inevitably has an impact on business performance. 'From a landlord perspective, anticipating and responding to those needs with the best possible location and high-quality, flexible, and sustainable spaces is essential. These features are no longer optional – they are critical to attracting and retaining occupiers. That said, challenges remain around development viability, with further growth and sharper pricing potentially required to bridge that gap fully. 'For occupiers, the balance is more around aligning their space with evolving work patterns. There is growing emphasis on environments that support wellbeing, collaboration, and sustainability – and we have seen offices that meet those needs experience stronger demand. We only see that trend accelerating as the workplace continues to evolve.' Knight Frank reported earlier this year that Scotland's commercial property market attracted £750 million of investment in the first half of 2025, against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions and a shifting policy landscape. Hotels were the top-performing asset class, with £213 million of investment. That was the second highest figure for the sector during the first six months of any year since 2020, behind only the £235m transacted over a similar period in 2024. Retail was second with £207m worth of transactions, followed by offices with £152m. Alasdair Steele, head of Scotland commercial at Knight Frank, said: 'Leasing activity has continued to show resilience, particularly in the major commercial centres where performance is increasingly concentrated within a limited pool of high-quality assets. Occupiers are acting decisively when the right product becomes available, with standout transactions reflecting pent-up demand from organisations that can delay commitments no longer. 'Investment volumes for 2025 so far reflect broader macroeconomic headwinds, yet deal interest continues – particularly for prime, well-let assets. Buyers are selective, and due diligence timelines have lengthened, but interest persists. The consultation on creating tax parity between commercial properties in England and Scotland should also provide further support to the market. 'Divergent growth has been one of the main trends for the Scottish commercial property sector. The market remains responsive for landlords and vendors holding high quality, well-let assets in prime locations. For others, adaptability, realistic pricing, and a willingness to align with the evolving demands will be the defining focus of attention.'
Zawya
18-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
UK-headquartered Addleshaw Goddard advises on $190mln investment in Egypt's Alameda
Cairo – International law firm Addleshaw Goddard, which is headquartered in London, has advised Egyptian private group Alameda Healthcare on its $190 million minority investment agreement with London-based private equity firm Development Partners International (DPI) and its co-investors. The transaction is structured primarily as a capital increase and is expected to close in the third quarter (Q3) of 2025, subject to customary regulatory approvals, according to a press release. The proceeds from the investment will be used to scale Alameda's hospital and outpatient network while investing in cutting-edge clinical technologies. In addition, the funding will be used to expand the healthcare group's centers of excellence in specialized medical fields such as cardiology, oncology, and liver disease. The proceeds will also support talent development initiatives aimed at retaining and upskilling Egyptian medical professionals and reversing brain drain from the sector. Meanwhile, the transaction further reinforces Addleshaw Goddard's position throughout the Middle East and Africa. The deal marks the largest private equity investment of its kind in Egypt's healthcare sector to date and represents a major milestone for both Alameda and DPI. It is worth mentioning that EFG Hermes acted as the sole M&A financial advisor on the signing of binding agreements for Alameda's deal with DPI. The transaction also enables Alameda to accelerate its strategic expansion across Egypt and into Gulf markets, further advancing its ambition to position Egypt as a regional hub for world-class healthcare. Partner and Head of Investment Management and Funds at Addleshaw Goddard MENA, Philip Dowsett, said: 'DPI's investment reflects growing global confidence in Egypt's healthcare infrastructure and Alameda's leadership position within it.' Dowsett noted: 'This deal also demonstrates our ability to advise on transformative cross-border investments that deliver regional impact.' Earlier in 2025, the healthcare entity teamed up with Talaat Moustafa Group Holding Company (TMG Holding) through a strategic partnership to develop premium-quality medical and healthcare services for an EGP 5 billion hospital in Madinaty.
Mid East Info
01-07-2025
- Business
- Mid East Info
Addleshaw Goddard advises on $80m financing deal for Orange Egypt
International law firm Addleshaw Goddard has successfully advised Banque Misr and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on an $80 million syndicated loan extended to Orange Egypt, a leading telecommunications operator in Egypt. The transaction marks a significant development in the country's telecommunications sector, as the financing will enable Orange Egypt to strengthen its infrastructure and acquire a 5G mobile operating license. This upgrade is expected to enhance mobile network efficiency by delivering faster data speeds and reducing network response times, benefiting consumers and businesses across Egypt. The financing consists of two tranches, with Banque Misr and EBRD each contributing 50% of the total amount. Both banks played vital roles in the transaction, demonstrating confidence in Egypt's growing digital economy and its alignment with sustainable development goals. By supporting Orange Egypt's 5G deployment, the financing highlights the broader significance of this initiative, as 5G technology is more energy-efficient than previous generations, contributing positively to efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of telecommunications infrastructure in Egypt. Sandeep Puri, Partner and Head of UAE Banking and Finance at Addleshaw Goddard, commented, 'We are honoured to have supported Banque Misr and EBRD in facilitating this financing for Orange Egypt's 5G rollout. The project not only reflects an important leap in the country's technological infrastructure but also aligns with sustainability measures for a cleaner future.' The Addleshaw Goddard team advising on the transaction was led by Sandeep Puri, supported by associate Maral Nafar. This transaction cements Addleshaw Goddard's reputation for providing comprehensive advisory services on high-impact deals across the MENA region, particularly in the telecommunications and banking sectors. About Addleshaw Goddard: Addleshaw Goddard is a global law firm with 2,800+ partners and employees across our 19 offices spanning key commercial centres around the world. Six in the UK – London, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen; eight in Europe – four in Germany and one in Ireland, France, Luxembourg and Spain; a further four in the GCC – Doha, Dubai, Muscat, and Riyadh; and one in Asia – Singapore. We have over 350 Partners and nearly 2,000 lawyers and fee-earners worldwide. In the Middle East we have more than 20 partners and close to 100 other fee earners.
Al Etihad
30-06-2025
- Business
- Al Etihad
International law firm Addleshaw Goddard bets big on ADGM
30 June 2025 22:51 Khaled Al Khawaldeh (Abu Dhabi)Addleshaw Goddard, a high-flying, London-headquartered, international law firm, has opened its doors at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), marking its fifth office in the Middle East — a move reflecting both client demand and the emirate's transformation into a global business and digital assets Hickman, Head of Middle East at Addleshaw Goddard, described the launch as "strategically important" for cementing relationships with major Abu Dhabi-based clients, believing the time was ripe for law firms that may already have a presence in Dubai to expand their presence to the capital – especially as Abu Dhabi Inc, a colloquialism used to describe the enormous sovereign wealth fund and corporate ecosystem in the emirate, continues to grow."There is a lot of client demand for us to be in Abu Dhabi. We do a lot of work for major 'Abu Dhabi Inc' entities already, but historically, there's been reluctance to give material mandates to advisers not physically present in the capital," he told new office positions Addleshaw Goddard to seize opportunities not only in the UAE but globally, Hickman explained, as Abu Dhabi's state-backed investors look increasingly outward, the demand for legal services was only growing. "We anticipate more work for sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, and Abu Dhabi Inc when they deploy capital internationally. Being on the ground in Abu Dhabi lets us support them both at home and abroad."ADGM, the financial free zone on Al Maryah Island, has in recent years emerged as a serious peer to Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). While DIFC has been widely recognised as the Gulf's foremost financial centre, ADGM has differentiated itself by aligning closely with Abu Dhabi government to attract the kind of international businesses the emirate wants."What the ADGM has done, which sets it apart slightly from DIFC, is its coordination with Abu Dhabi authorities like ADIO and ADIA. They've introduced investment incentives to attract high-quality international players, and it's working - every time I visit, I see more Abu Dhabi Inc entities setting up shop," Anna Zeitlin, another partner at Addleshaw Goddard specialising in Fintech and Financial Services told both partners, ADGM's regulatory achievements have been a major draw. Hickman praised its "world-class legal jurisdiction" with English common law at its foundation, calling it a "trusted place to do business" with robust frameworks for dispute resolution. He said the adoption of English law gives investors and businesses legal predictability that many other emerging markets partners also noted how ADGM has evolved from simply hosting banks and international corporations to becoming a magnet for Abu Dhabi's biggest government-related entities — a signal of the free zone's increasing importance as a centre for both local and cross-border the most striking element of ADGM's evolution is its emergence as a global pioneer in digital assets regulation — an area where Zeitlin sees Abu Dhabi ahead of Dubai and most of the world. While Dubai has garnered headlines for creating VARA, its standalone virtual assets authority, Zeitlin emphasised that ADGM had already started developing a digital assets regime before Dubai finalised its approach."Some of the first digital asset players in the Emirates set up in ADGM, and it has been picky about attracting big, legitimate firms. Their regime wasn't imported from English law, it had to be developed from scratch, and it's probably a world leader," Zeitlin said. The strong response to ADGM's digital assets regime has prompted the free zone to expand physically from Maryah Island to neighbouring Reem Island to accommodate new Goddard itself is helping shape the next phase of ADGM's regulations."We work very closely with the FSRA, the financial regulator there, and we are helping them develop some of their new regimes that are coming up in the next few months," she ambitions don't stop with ease of doing business or attracting capital. According to Hickman, it has also taken the region's bankruptcy frameworks to new heights. He pointed to high-profile restructurings like NMC Health, where distressed companies redomiciled into ADGM to benefit from its modern insolvency regime."ADGM has created the leading bankruptcy regime in the Middle East, which supports not only business growth but also provides effective solutions when companies run into distress," he said. Though both partners acknowledge that UAE bankruptcy processes still lagged mature markets in terms of speed and certainty, they see ADGM's approach as a clear sign of Abu Dhabi's intent to provide a full-spectrum financial ecosystem.
Irish Times
30-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Problem at work? You'll be hearing from my chatbot
People say nothing funny ever happens on LinkedIn and in my experience, people are right. But the other day, a colleague showed me a post on the site from a man named Chris who said he had started joining online meetings 30 seconds early, all the better to be discreetly recorded by the AI note-taking assistants now used to transcribe virtual meetings. He then starts screaming that he is on the Titanic, which has just hit an iceberg, and needs help pronto, before carrying on normally for the rest of the meeting. 'When the meeting ends,' he wrote, 'everyone gets an emailed transcript where the AI summary is: 'Chris hit an iceberg, is trapped on a sinking ship, and general Q2 pricing updates.'' READ MORE I enjoyed this story and hope it travels far because finally, someone may have found a good use for AI in the office. Obviously I hear constantly about the latest 'use case' in the 'AI space' that is going to make working life more productive, efficient and streamlined. I also realise that scientists at Google DeepMind were joint winners of last year's Nobel chemistry prize for an AI model that is already helping to speed up work on intractable problems such as antibiotic resistance and plastic pollution. In the right hands, artificial intelligence can be a force for great good. It's just that I keep coming across people like Sarah Harrop, who know how dire it can be in the wrong hands. Harrop is an employment partner at the Addleshaw Goddard law firm in London, which means she deals with claims of unfair dismissal, discrimination and other forms of mistreatment. IATA Director General Willie Walsh on airline profits, air fares and why the Dublin Airport passenger cap makes Ireland a laughing stock Listen | 35:56 Since the arrival of ChatGPT , she says there has been a distinct rise in the number of vastly more detailed, lengthy and outwardly credible correspondence to HR departments and employment tribunals. The documents often contain references to legal precedents and other references to the law that don't always turn out to be accurate, but take hours to sort through. 'We have seen examples where there are dozens and dozens of pieces of correspondence sent to the employment tribunal,' she told me. The length of the documents and the speed at which they are generated suggests they are almost certainly produced by robots rather than humans, she said, adding this causes 'significant pressure' for employers and tribunals. I can well imagine what a tedious and costly burden this can be for employers, and I am sure they are not alone. I mentioned Harrop's observations to a few people last week and quickly learnt that employees are by no means the only ones using AI to turbocharge complaints. A man who has been a school governor for many years said the volume and intensity of what were almost certainly AI-assisted complaints from parents had skyrocketed in the past 18 months. The complaints were often well crafted and included convincing references to legal precedents that made them hard to ignore, he said, even though the longest ones invariably turned out to be specious. I do not see this situation easing any time soon. The internet is now awash with sites offering to harness the power of AI to generate powerful, well-written complaints. I tested one designed for employees by telling it I wanted a letter about the extent to which male lavatories outnumbered female ones in a large office I recently visited. Within seconds, it spat back a brisk, grammatically correct and unnervingly persuasive indictment of what it called an unfair and discriminatory arrangement that 'presents a negative and potentially unprofessional impression' to female guests. I'm not going to deny that this induced a surge of gratitude, and the realisation that there must be many times when an AI-aided complaint is fully justified. Shoddy products, unfair parking tickets and malevolent employers are doubtless all grounds for a souped-up grievance letter. But a world in which those charged with handling complaints are buried beneath an avalanche of AI-generated verbiage of questionable legitimacy is not a good one. How tempting it must feel to stop diligently wading through the crud and go over to the dark side by simply using AI to respond. I don't suppose we will ever reach the point where we leave it to the bots to fight it out and get back to us once they are done. But then again, can we say for sure that we won't? – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
