Darren Harris

Managing Partner
Gateley Middle East
dharris@gateleyae.com
UAE

Expertise

Darren is the Managing Partner in our Dubai office and has over 20 years of experience, 13 of those years in the Middle East, representing acquirers, sellers, founders, investors and management teams on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity, venture capital, joint ventures and corporate advisory matters across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

Darren has advised on a significant number of corporate transactions, working with clients operating in the retail and consumer, industrial and technology sectors.

Experience

1. Advising the founders of Create Group on the sale of its digital market business to Stagwell Inc.
2. Advising the shareholders of Virtuzone on the sale of its business to Ascentium.
3. Advising the shareholders of illumin8 Group on the majority sale of its business to the Mizuri Group.
4. Advising the shareholders of the Talent Enterprise Group, a global talent assessment technology company to Mercer.
5. Advising the shareholders of Sanipex on the sale of 25% of the business to Aliph Capital and all associated equity arrangements.
6. Advising sellers and ongoing minority shareholders of Hug Digital, a leading digital media agency based in the UAE, Lebanon, Egypt and India on the majority sale to the WPP Group.
7. Advising the founder shareholder of Socialize on its partnership with the We Are Social agency.
8. Advising on the management buyout of Gymnation, the largest chain of fitness centres in the UAE, to a listed UK company.
9. Advising Al Futtaim on an asset sale of their sports and retail division, Royal Sporting House, operating in East Asia, the GCC, and Egypt to Gulf Marketing Group.
10. Advising the shareholders of Al Shirawi US Chillers on a 100% sale of their regional and US chillers business to Dalkia (EDF Group).
11. Advising the sellers of UAE-headquartered Dear Systems, a leader in inventory management, to a US private equity investor.
12. Advising the shareholders of the UAE’s Organic Foods and Café on a majority share sale to Gulf Japan Food Fund.

Related Publications