Jirayr Habibian
Jirayr Habibian
Managing Partner, UAE Offices
Jirayr Habibian is the Managing Partner of Matouk Bassiouny’s UAE Offices. He brings with him a wealth of experience working in the fields of corporate finance, trade finance, M&A transactions and capital markets across multiple jurisdictions including the UAE, Lebanon, Armenia, Egypt, Turkey and Jordan.
Prior to joining Matouk Bassiouny, Jirayr acted in a variety of senior roles with leading international banks including Investbank, Rasmala Investment Bank, Bank of Sharjah, Standard Chartered Bank and Lebanese Swiss Bank. Jirayr was also previously an Of Counsel with Squire Patton Boggs LLC and a Junior Partner at Farid Halim El-Khoury Law Cabinet. Additionally, Jirayr designed the Anti Money Laundering and Terrorist Counter Financing training for the Central Bank of Armenia, with the collaboration of the EBRD.
Jirayr is additionally A Founding and Board Member of ICC National Committee Armenia and has been appointed as a Member of the Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce. He acted as Senior Legal Counsel to the undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department where he was responsible for establishing and running the Court of Arbitration of Sport, Alternate Hearing Centre in Abu Dhabi through 2019 in addition to drafting the UAE law on Sports Arbitration, drafted in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the UAE Federal National Council.
Selected Recent Experience
- Advised on a USD 60 million transaction between a UAE armored vehicle manufacturer and a government-owned subsidiary in charge of the development of military vehicles.
- Advised as a mediator in a real estate related litigation between two big corporate groups (one as owner of the project and the other as the contractor) in Dubai and resolved an AED 10 million dispute through mediation.
- Advised Damas Intl’ (at the time a Nasdaq listed company) on an AED 3 billion debt restructuring and delisting the company for private sale.
- Advised Damas Intl’ on matters including a cascade agreement, various litigations in the UAE, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan, and the entire corporate restructuring process of Damas Group in the UAE and abroad.
- Advised on the restructuring of Investbank and the strategic investment of the Gvt of Sharjah within the capital structure of the bank. Additionally advised the Chairman and the Board of Directors on the legal and regulatory issues the bank faced, including but not limited to the corporate governance new framework, Central Bank impairment requirements and its impact on the Bank’s CAR, as well as advising on different structures with different options in a view to re-capitalize the bank.
- Advised Rasmala Investment Bank Ltd on a variety of matters including, establishing and maintaining required corporate vehicles necessary for the launching of funds, drafting subscription forms and relevant terms of business in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, drafting and reviewing term sheets for potential deals.
- Advised Bank of Sharjah on Anti Money Laundering processes and procedures and performed active trainings, implementation of the Compliance Risk Management process and establishment and implementation of the corporate governance structure.
- Advised Standard Chartered Bank on legality of new products/services and sales programs and the bank’s policy on international economic sanctions and dissemination thereof via active trainings, and also reviewed, drafted and negotiated Interest Swap Derivative Associations Master Agreements, undertook fraud investigations, and established the legal and compliance function in both Lebanon and Jordan.
- Advised clients on legal due diligence exercises for the potential acquisition of three different banks in Egypt.
- Advised clients in three different integrations following the acquisition of three banks in Lebanon, Jordan and Pakistan.
- Advising Damas Intl’ Ltd. on an AED 3 billion debt restructuring and delisting the company from the private sale.
Education
Professional Associations and Memberships