Mohamed Nabil Hazzaa
Mohamed Nabil Hazzaa
Partner, Co-Head of Finance & Projects
Mohamed is a Partner and Co-Head of the Finance and Projects group at Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy. With extensive experience in infrastructure, energy, and public-private partnership (PPP) projects. He has over 16 years of experience advising on complex project finance and large-scale developments across Egypt.
Prior to joining Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy, Mohamed was the Partner leading the Projects, Utilities and Infrastructure practice group as well as the M&A practice group at Sharkawy & Sarhan and was seconded to Allen & Overy LLP in Dubai, gaining valuable international experience in cross-border transactions.
Mohamed advises multilateral institutions, development finance institutions, lenders, and sponsors on major infrastructure and energy projects, with a particular focus on PPP structuring, financing, and regulatory frameworks. His experience spans renewable energy, transport, logistics, and water sectors, including several landmark and first-of-their-kind projects in Egypt.
Referring to Mohamed, recent periodicals have stated:
Practice Focus
Mohamed’s practice focuses on infrastructure and energy projects, with particular expertise in project finance, PPPs, and large-scale development projects. He advises on all stages of project development, including structuring, procurement, tendering, financing, and implementation, with a strong focus on renewable energy, transport, and utilities sectors. Mohamed also specializes in M&A transactions, including public takeovers, private acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures and strategic investments. He has advised throughout his career on some of the ground-breaking M&A transactions in the Egyptian market including advising on some of the largest acquisitions and sales in FIG sector (including banks and insurance) as well as some of the largest acquisitions and sales in Energy, Telecoms, Pharmaceuticals and FMCGs in Egypt. He has advised several financial institutions and regulatory bodies in connection with a wide spectrum of issues in capital markets including Fairfax, Blakeney, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
Recent Rankings
Selected Recent Experience
- Representation of IFC, the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation, and the Egyptian Airports Company in connection with the Egypt Airports PPP Program, including advising on structuring, qualification, tendering, and drafting of project agreements.
- Representation of EBRD, the New Urban Communities Authority, and the PPP Central Unit of the Ministry of Finance in connection with the Alamein Seawater Desalination Plant Project, including legal due diligence, tendering, and drafting of project agreements.
- Representation of EBRD and the General Authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) in connection with the SCZone Seawater Desalination Plant Project.
- Representation of a group of DFIs on the financing of the development, construction, and operation of two stand-alone battery energy storage system (BESS) plants in Egypt with a total capacity of 1,500 MWh to be developed by AMEA Power.
- Representation of lenders including IFC and JICA in connection with the 500 MW solar BOO Abydos I and its expansion to include BESS component and on Abydos II BOO consisting of a 1 GW solar photovoltaic power plant, and 600MWh BESS located at New Benban, developed by AMEA Power.
- Representation of BII, EBRD and AfDB in connection with their financing of the 1 GW solar photovoltaic Obelisk power plant integrated with a 100 MW (200 MWh) BESS, developed by Scatec Solar.
- Representation of EBRD and a group of DFIs on the financing of the 200MW Ras Ghareb Wind BOO project developed by Masdar IPH Wind.
- Representation of EBRD and a group of DFIs on the financing of the 200MW Kom Ombo PV BOO project developed by Scatec Solar.
- Representation of EBRD, ISDB and ICD as outgoing financing institutions on a refinancing of 6 x 50MW solar projects under the Round Two Feed-in Tariff program developed by Scatec Solar. The refinancing was done via USD 335m green bond issuance in which EBRD participated with USD 100m.
- Representation of EBRD, IFC, Proparco and 15 other international financial institutions in connection with the USD 1.8 billion financing of the thirty (30) Benban solar projects under the second round of the feed-in tariff program, one of the largest renewable energy financings in Egypt and the region.
- Representation of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Communities Development (with EBRD and IFC) and with the technical assistance of the PPP Central Unit of the Ministry of Finance on the structuring, qualification and tendering of a pipeline of water desalination projects under the PPP regime, being the first in Egypt.
- Representation of EBRD in connection with the 10th of Ramadan Dry Port Project, including structuring, tendering, and concession documentation.
- Representation of EBRD in connection with the 6th of October Dry Port Project, including advising on financing arrangements. The project is the first dry port PPP project in Egypt and has won IJ Global transportation deal of the year for 2021.
- Representation of a syndication of financial institutions including IFC, EBRD, Proparco, AIIB, and DEG on the financing of a second container terminal in the Damietta Port.
- Representation of Suez Canal Container Terminal Company (a subsidiary of AP Moller Maersk and CMS) on the expansion of the port terminal in East Port Said Port and financing of the expansion with a DFI.
- Representation of IFC in connection with the Financing of the Safaga Multipurpose Port Terminal developed by the Abu Dhabi Ports Group.
- Representation of a group of financiers in connection with the first green ammonia project in Egypt developed by the consortium of Scatec Solar and Orascom Construction.
- Representation of a syndication of banks in connection with the financing of the Abu Qir Container Terminal project.
- Representation of Vodafone Group on the reorganisation and sale of its entire stake in Vodafone Egypt to its JSE-listed subsidiary Vodacom Group Limited. at EUR 2.7 billion consideration and enterprise value of over EUR 4 billion. The transaction involved exemptions from takeover rules and share swap between Egypt and Johannesburg.
- Representation of Wafa Assurance in connection with the acquisition of Delta Insurance Egypt (EGX listed) through a mandatory tender offer.
- Representation of Kellanova (formerly Kellogg) on the sale of Bisco Misr through a mandatory tender offer.
- Representation of Allianz SE on the Egyptian law aspects and restructuring with Sanlam to combine operations across Africa (including 31 jurisdictions) creating the largest Pan-African non-banking financial services entity on the continent.
- Representation of Attijariwafa Bank on the acquisition of Barclays Bank (Egypt) headquartered in Cairo and present in 18 Egyptian cities with 56 branches. This transaction represents a first of this scale from a Moroccan financial operator on the Egyptian market.
- Representation of Société Générale on the sale of its stake in National Société Générale Bank to Qatar National Bank Group. The transaction was the largest bank M&A transaction in the MENA region after the financial crisis.
- Representation of BNP Paribas on the sale of its entire stake in its Egyptian Bank BNP Paribas S.A.E. to Emirates NBD.
- Representation of Fairfax on the acquisition of a minority stake in Commercial International Bank (CIB) S.A.E. from Actis.
- Representation of Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc (Hikma) on all Egyptian law aspects of acquiring GSK’s business in Egypt through a mandatory tender offer.
- Representation of Nestlé on the acquisition of Pfizer Nutrition business.
- Representation of SANOFI on group restructuring separation between Rx and Cx businesses involving Egyptian assets and business units.
- Representation of Adeptio AD Investments SPC Limited on the takeover of Kuwait Food Company, Americana (a public company listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange). This deal represents one of the most significant M&A transactions ever to take place in the Middle East in terms of profile, complexity and novelty (awarded Consumer Deal of the Year at the Mergermarket MENA M&A Legal Advisor Awards 2017).
- Representation of Altimo on launching a $3.7 billion mandatory tender offer for purchasing an Egyptian listed company (Orascom Telecom Holding) having Global Depository Receipts listed on the LSX.
- Representation of several clients on the largest acquisitions in the power and renewables sector in Egypt, including Alcazar Energy Partners, China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Ltd, Masdar, the Silk Road Fund, CGN and Cennergi Holdings (Pty).
- Representation of EFG Hermes Private Equity on the sale of 100% stake in Ridgewood Group, leading water desalination and treatment group companies.
Education
Faculty of Law (English Section), Cairo University
2009