Dani Kabbani

Managing Partner

Languages

English, Arabic and French

Practice areas

• Banking and finance
• Commercial agreements
• Corporate
• Energy and infrastructure
• Governments and Infrastructure
• Litigation and dispute management
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Private equity
• Restructuring and insolvency
• Transport

Practice notes

Dani is the managing partner of the Doha office. With more than 25 years of experience, Dani brings a wealth of experience to clients operating or looking to invest in Qatar.

Dani advises both government bodies as well as international and local companies (including state owned and privately owned energy companies) on a wide range of commercial and corporate matters including PPPs, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, restructuring, listing and admission to trade as well as court and arbitration disputes.

Dani has successfully drafted several laws that are in application in Qatar including the PPP Law and the revised Commercial Companies Law. Dani has worked closely with the World Bank and several government authorities to improve doing business processes in Qatar.

Dani previously worked for Qatar Petroleum's legal department and before that acted as Manager of Doha’s legal department. He has also acted as secretary to the board of directors of Oryx GTL (a Qatar Petroleum and Sasol joint venture), Gulf Drilling International (a Qatar Petroleum and Japan Drilling Company joint venture), Starlink (an Ooredoo affiliate) and Qatar First Bank.

Dani acts as an arbitrator and an expert on Qatari law matters in international arbitrations.

Dani holds a LLM and a LLB from the University of St. Joseph (Beirut). He is a visiting professor at the Université Paris II (Pantheon – Assas) lecturing LLM students on M&A and commercial companies in Qatar and the GCC.

In 2019, Chambers Global noted that "no other foreign lawyer working in an international law firm has the years of experience that Dani has in Qatar". Clients praise Dani for "his personal involvement helps him stand out," adding: "Dani covers us completely and holistically. It is a close relationship, he is responsive and attentive and I don't have to follow up". In 2020, Chambers Global mentioned that Dani "knows the market inside out and his presence on the team makes the difference."

A selection of Dani’s relevant experience includes acting for:

• Yara on its US$1bn sale of shares in QAFCO to Qatar Petroleum
• Ashghal (Public Works Authority) on several PPPs including a waste water treatment plant, schools, cars and trucks parking, hospitals and LED street lighting
• Barwa Bank on its simultaneous acquisition of The First Investor (regulated by the Qatar Central Bank), First Finance Company (listed on the Qatar Exchange) and First Leasing Compan
• Qatar Petroleum on its joint venture with ExxonMobil for the Qatargas II LNG Project in relation to the financing and construction of two LNG trains, the acquisition of tankers to transport LNG from Qatar to the UK and the construction of an LNG receiving terminal in the UK. At US$11.2bn this is one of the largest energy project financing and the first with an Islamic tranche
• Qatar Investment Authority on its US$1bn joint venture with NYSE Euronext in relation to Qatar Exchange
• an international engineering and construction firm of a large petrochemical project in relation to a US$20m tax claim against the Ministry of Finance
• a joint venture on the construction of the Doha Metro Project in relation to a dispute with Qatar Rail and multi-billion QAR claims
• the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy on the Qatar 2022 World Cup organisation