Sabra Ferhat joins Clifford Chance as antitrust counsel

Sabra Ferhat relocates from Clifford Chance’s London office to become the Firm’s first dedicated antitrust expert based in the UAE.

Ferhat brings a breadth of experience advising clients on international antitrust issues across a range of sectors including tech, telecoms, energy, consumer goods, insurance and banking.

Sabra Ferhat

Her recent experience includes advising Nationwide Building Society on the antitrust aspects of its £2.9 billion acquisition of Virgin Money UK plc, which is the largest UK banking deal since the 2008 financial crisis. Additional notable experience of Sabra’s includes advising Coca Cola on its acquisition of Costa Coffee, as well as advising a consortium consisting of KIRKBI, Blackstone and CPPIB on the £4.77 billion take private of Merlin Entertainments plc. Sabra has also worked with clients based in the UAE and across the wider Middle East, such as DP World on several of its acquisitions across the globe. Before joining Clifford Chance in 2018 as a member of the Firm’s London antitrust practice, Sabra worked as in-house competition counsel at British broadcaster Sky and prior to that in private practice in Brussels. She is a dual qualified lawyer (France and UK). She is fluent in French, English and German.

Mohammed Al-Shukairy, Clifford Chance’s regional managing partner stated: “Her move will build upon our regional Antitrust practice in Saudi Arabia, as well as complement our broader corporate offering in the Middle East and Türkiye at an important point in the development of merger control regimes as well as added regulatory scrutiny by regulators worldwide, including in the region.”