Baker McKenzie advises Gulf Data Hub on KKR partnership

Baker McKenzie has advised Gulf Data Hub (GDH) on the sale of a significant stake to KKR, marking KKR’s first data center investment in the Middle East. The deal, subject to regulatory approval, will see over USD 5 billion invested to support GDH’s growth and global expansion in the data center sector.

The team

The legal team was led by Abeer Jarrar, Corporate M&A Partner based in Dubai, with key contributions from Dubai-based associates Luke Hackett, Nicole Galedari, and Neda Bahador, as well as Tamim AlKhudhayri (Partner, Riyadh), James Burdett (Partner, Abu Dhabi), Mohammad AlZibdeh (Associate, Dubai), and Ziad Raheb (Senior Associate, Jeddah). Antitrust expertise came from Riyadh-based David Monnier (Partner), Marwan Othman (Associate), and Ruwaa AlAbdullatif (Trainee Associate). Other significant contributions from the MENA region included Adil Hussein (Partner, Dubai), Chaya Gupta (Senior Associate, Dubai), Joanna Matthews-Taylor (Partner, Dubai), Aqsa Sadiq (Senior Associate, Dubai), Keri Watkins (Partner, Dubai), Ali Amir (Senior Associate, Dubai), and Anna George (Associate, Dubai). Additional support came from Luka Kristovic-Blazevic (Partner, Dubai), Marlize Dumas (Associate, Dubai), Reggie Mezu (Senior Counsel, Dubai), Ben Phillips (Senior Associate, Dubai) and Tessa Crawford (Associate, Dubai)

From outside the MENA region, the team included George Marshall and David Hart (Corporate Finance Partners, London), Anne Petterd (TMT Partner, Sydney), Jacob Turner, Jack Bliss, and Ethan McAuliffe (Associates, London), as well as Simone Blackadder (Special Counsel, Sydney), Kirsten Foley, Alison Chen (Associates, Sydney), Fewa Olu-Martins (Associate, London) and Richard Molesworth (Counsel, London)