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AMJ won the “Offshore Finance Deal of the Year” category at the IFN Awards 2020 for the Rakiza Fund transaction. Here’s what the awards committee had to say about AMJ and its transactions:

1) “AMJ advised on the Government of Oman’s unlimited value sukuk, a deal of the year 2019. The firm also advised the Government of Oman on the Oman Investment Authority’s infrastructure fund (Rakiza). A complex structure aimed at expanding international investment into Oman, the deal will surely be a 2020 Deal of the Year contender.

2) WINNER OFFSHORE FINANCE – given to those who demonstrate the art of structuring and those who offer exceptional service. Periodically, the artful deals are unique and even market-changing.

AMJ was the Omani law counsel for the SGRF and Rakiza Fund 1 (Guernsey), Oman Infrastructure Investment Co and Equitix Investment Management. AMJ worked on the Rakiza Fund and this was the first time that an infrastructure fund was established in Oman where the vast majority of investments would be injected through offshore feeder funds. AMJ was required to work closely with international counsels to structure such feeder funds and their investments into the Rakiza Master Fund in a manner acceptable to CMA and its laws.

At another level, the transaction was required to be structured in such a manner than foreign investment manager Equitix could be permitted to advise on investments made by Rakiza Master Fund in Oman without being registered and licensed under the Omani fund regime.

WE ARE LONG USED TO GCC MONEY GOING OUT IN FUNDS FOR PRIVATE INVESTMENT. RAKIZA IS DESIGNED TO ATTRACT GLOBAL INVESTORS INTO OMAN. DESPITE ITS COMPLEXITY, THE FUND MAY PROVE A MODEL FOR OTHER GCC AND EMERGING COUNTRIES TO FINANCE INFRASTRUCTURE.

3) AMJ were shortlisted again for Rakiza in Project & Infrastructure – “one might say that AMJ built the legal infrastructure for foreign investment into Omani projects”. AMJ did “yeoman service, providing the Omani law bits to bring the Oman Infrastructure Fund to life. This entailed managing complexities of local law with respect to foreign fund managers and investors acting in Oman. This certainly is a model for many other countries”.