Addleshaw Goddard's Dubai Corporate team has advised Kasamar Holdings, a newly formed Abu Dhabi family office, in relation to its first investment, the acquisition of a significant minority interest in the leading regional cultural retailer, Gallery One.
Founded by Gregg and Jane Sedgwick in 2006, Gallery One has established itself as a household name, with stores across the region including those in Dubai Mall, Souk al Bahar, JBR, Arabian Ranches, Dubai Festival City, Madinat Jumeirah, Qaryat Al Beri (Abu Dhabi), City Centre Mall (Bahrain), as well as in Doha (Qatar), and in Riyadh (KSA). Gallery One will use the investment to accelerate plans to open new stores in the GCC region and to explore opportunities to diversify their product range.
The Addleshaw Goddard team was led by Partner and Head of Corporate GCC, Andrew Johnston, with support from Lowri Llwyd (Legal Director), Ben Sims (Associate) and Ahlam Souccarieh (Head of Corporate Services).
Andrew Johnston, stated: "We were delighted to support Kasamar Holdings on this strategic investment. We look forward to seeing the business go from strength to strength and to supporting Kasamar as they look to deploy funds into other equally exciting ventures. We have had a solid 12 months and our pipeline for 2017 remains strong despite prevailing market conditions. Our regional corporate team has genuine strength in-depth in both the M&A and private equity sectors across the region which, when coupled with Addleshaw Goddard's international reach, means that we are ideally placed to demonstrably add value in relation to our clients' most high profile and large-scale transactions."
Mo Bississo, Director, at Kasamar stated: "We identified Gallery One as a well-run SME which has carefully developed strong brand recognition in the region and that has the potential to expand its presence even further. We are already enjoying working with Gregg and see the future plans for Gallery One as overwhelmingly positive. Since signing, we are happy to have supported the Gallery One team continue their expansion with 11 new outlets to be launched this year. The Addleshaw Goddard team provided Kasamar with seamless and timely advice and was able to work with the Gallery One team to provide constructive and commercial solutions to get this transaction over the line."
