Naila Ramsay
Partner
Phone
Fax
(+202) 2322 5401
Languages
English, French, Italian, Arabic
Naila is a partner with Sharkawy & Sarhan and she spends her time between Cairo and London in order to extend the reach of the firm more internationally and to provide clients with a regular presence in Europe. She has over 20 years’ experience in advising on cross-border project finance and infrastructure in the EMEA region in multiple sectors.
She is result oriented, multilingual, and multicultural, solution driven with experience in origination, asset creation and execution as legal adviser, investor, and developer. Having spent several years as a project finance Lawyer predominantly with Linklaters in London and Paris, Naila has been involved in a range of projects acting for sponsors, lenders, and Governments. From the law she transitioned successfully to an investment bank, Babcock & Brown, as a senior transactor in UK PFI and Public Private Partnerships more generally.
This role involved bidding, managing, and closing large social infrastructure projects with complicated contractual structures and interface issues. It included bidding for the early phase of the PPP pipeline in Egypt both with Babcock & Brown and with the Hassan Allam Group.
This role included interacting on a regular basis with the PPP Unit, under the umbrella of the Ministry of Finance, and building a strong relationship with the team. These varied but complimentary roles have provided Naila with a unique insight into the commercial and contractual challenges inherent to these types of transactions, especially in the UK and Egypt.
At the firm, Naila is responsible for cross border business development, strategic client relationship management and development, Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in addition to advising on infrastructure and concession-based transactions.
Related Sectors
Related Practice Areas
Representative Experience
Advising the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on the financing to be granted to October Dry Port Company, a special purpose vehicle established for the development and construction of the 6th of October Dry Port project, the first Public Private Partnership (PPP) project in this sector, to be operated under a BOT scheme. The project was awarded to the consortium between El Sewedy Electric, SLP for Logistic Properties and Schenker Egypt.
Advising Qatar Energy Company (QP) on Egyptian law matters concerning acquiring stakes in several Egyptian oil and gas upstream assets. Our work included conducting a thorough due diligence report on the Egyptian oil and gas regime and related issues including market entry and regulatory approvals issues, as well as revising transaction documents from an Egyptian law perspective. Our work was in relation to QPs acquisition of a 40% stake in North Maraca marine area in the Mediterranean from ExxonMobil and a 17% stake in Red Sea exploration Block 3 and 17% in Block 4 from Shell-operated oil and gas exploration blocks in the Red Sea.
Executive transactor for an investor and contractor in connection with its bid for the Abu Rawash waste water treatment plant in Egypt.
Executive transactor for an investor and contractor in connection with its bid for a 3×750 MW gas fired combined cycle power complex in Egypt.
Executive transactor for the equity sponsor who achieved preferred bidder status in connection with the 345 new public schools PPP project tendered by the General Authority for Educational Buildings in Egypt.
Advising the commercial lenders in connection with the USD650mn project financing of one of the longest fully suspended bridges in the world located in Greece.
Advising the Office for Passenger Rail Franchising in the UK on a variety of rolling stock related issues.
Education and Memberships
- Joint MA (Honours) Politics/International Relations/ French – Aberdeen University Scotland.
- Common Professional Examination and Law Society Finals – College of Law Guilford.
Naila Ramsay
Partner
Phone: +44 7342 882 466
Fax: (+202) 2322 5401
Languages: English, French, Italian, Arabic.
Related Practice Areas: Corporate & Commercial, Data Privacy & Cyber-security
Naila is a partner with Sharkawy & Sarhan and she spends her time between Cairo and London in order to extend the reach of the firm more internationally and to provide clients with a regular presence in Europe. She has over 20 years’ experience in advising on cross-border project finance and infrastructure in the EMEA region in multiple sectors.
She is result oriented, multilingual, and multicultural, solution driven with experience in origination, asset creation and execution as legal adviser, investor, and developer. Having spent several years as a project finance Lawyer predominantly with Linklaters in London and Paris, Naila has been involved in a range of projects acting for sponsors, lenders, and Governments. From the law she transitioned successfully to an investment bank, Babcock & Brown, as a senior transactor in UK PFI and Public Private Partnerships more generally.
This role involved bidding, managing, and closing large social infrastructure projects with complicated contractual structures and interface issues. It included bidding for the early phase of the PPP pipeline in Egypt both with Babcock & Brown and with the Hassan Allam Group. This role included interacting on a regular basis with the PPP Unit, under the umbrella of the Ministry of Finance, and building a strong relationship with the team. These varied but complimentary roles have provided Naila with a unique insight into the commercial and contractual challenges inherent to these types of transactions, especially in the UK and Egypt.
At Sharkawy & Sarhan, Naila is responsible for cross border business development, strategic client relationship management and development, Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in addition to advising on infrastructure and concession-based transactions.
At the firm, She is responsible for cross border business development, strategic client relationship management and development, Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in addition to advising on infrastructure and concession-based transactions.
Representative Experience
Advising the commercial lenders in connection with the $650 million project financing of one of the longest fully suspended bridges in the world located in Greece.
Executive transactor for an investor and contractor in connection with its bid for a 3×750 MW gas fired combined cycle power complex in Egypt.
Executive transactor for the equity sponsor who achieved preferred bidder status in connection with the 345 new public schools PPP project tendered by the General Authority for Educational Buildings in Egypt.
Executive transactor for an investor and contractor in connection with its bid for the Abu Rawash waste water treatment plant in Egypt.
Advising the Office for Passenger Rail Franchising in the UK on a variety of rolling stock related issues.
Education and Memberships
- Joint MA (Honours) Politics/International Relations/ French – Aberdeen University Scotland.
- Common Professional Examination and Law Society Finals – College of Law Guilford.
Insights
Insights
Green Hydrogen Pipeline in Egypt
“She is very professional, competent and attentive, great at relationship-building, with extensive market knowledge and an impressive focus on diversity.”