Latham bolsters transactional team in the Gulf Region and adds to London corporate and finance practice

Latham & Watkins

Dubai, July 22, 2008 - Latham & Watkins LLP1 is pleased to announce that four partners from the firm’s London, New York and Silicon Valley offices will be relocating to the Gulf Region this year. The group comprises London corporate partners Bryant Edwards and Charles Fuller, New York finance partner Kenneth Schuhmacher and Silicon Valley corporate partner Nicholas O’Keefe.

New York finance partner William Voge and San Francisco corporate partner Tracy Edmonson will be moving to the firm’s London office in the coming months. Voge has extensive experience in all aspects of project development and project financings and has a formidable track record advising on some of the most high profile energy deals in the Middle East. Edmonson is an experienced capital markets partner who will add further heft to the firm’s already strong corporate finance team in Europe.

“The Middle East is one of the most dynamic regions in the world and we have been delighted with the reception we have received since our plans earlier this year to open three offices in the region. All of these partners are leaders in their respective fields, and the collective strength of this group underscores our commitment to the Middle East. These partner relocations will bolster our efforts to respond to the inbound and outbound opportunities in the region, particularly the increasingly important financial and banking nexus between London and the Middle East,” said Robert M. Dell, Chairman and Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins.

“Our global strategy is founded on having strength and depth in the financial, commercial and regulatory capitals of the world. The Middle East economies are some of the most active in the world today, with long term prospects for sustained significant growth,” said Rindala Beydoun, Office Managing Partner for the firm’s Middle East offices. “We are focused on growing the practice and the arrival of these four partners significantly enhances our regional credentials – and our intention to be the leading transactional firm in the Gulf.”

Biographies of partners relocating to the Gulf Region:

London

o Bryant Edwards is a corporate partner and has served as Chair of Latham & Watkins’ London and Los Angeles Corporate Departments. His practice includes representing companies and investment banks in merger and acquisition transactions and in public and private offerings of securities, with a particular emphasis on issuances and restructurings of debt securities. Edwards was Chair of the European High Yield Association from 2004 through 2007 and was instrumental in engineering its merger with SIFMA in 2007.

o Charles Fuller is a corporate partner with a focus on complex, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, including private equity transactions and joint ventures. Fuller represents strategic and financial buyers and sellers in public and private mergers, acquisitions and joint venture transactions.

New York

o Kenneth Schuhmacher is a finance partner with extensive experience in development and project financings, privatizations and acquisitions, both in the US and abroad, in particular in the Indian Subcontinent, the Middle East, Latin America and Eastern Europe for oil and gas projects, power projects, toll roads and port transactions.

Silicon Valley

o Nicholas O’Keefe is a corporate partner who has a strong track record advising public and private companies, US and international, in transactional, corporate governance and general corporate matters, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions. His M&A experience includes US and cross-border transactions, joint ventures, acquisitions of minority interests, leveraged buyouts, proxy contests, hostile and friendly tender offers and corporate restructurings, including representation of private equity funds and financial advisors.

About Latham & Watkins’ Middle East Practice

Latham & Watkins’ Middle East practice, operating from the firm’s Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha offices, represents companies located in or doing business in the Middle East and North Africa. Launching its practice in the Gulf Region in 2008, the firm’s primary focus in the Middle East is on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, investment funds, project development and finance, structured finance, leveraged finance, corporate finance and capital markets.

Staffed with Arabic-, French- and English-speaking, internationally qualified attorneys, Latham & Watkins’ Middle East team combines local expertise and knowledge of the region with the firm’s international network and experience to provide comprehensive services to clients with interests in the Middle East and North Africa.