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Level Up: Unlocking Financial Potential In The Middle East
Welcome to this edition of Law Update, where we focus on the ever-evolving landscape of financial services regulation across the region. As the financial markets in the region continue to grow and diversify, this issue provides timely insights into the key regulatory developments shaping banking, investment, insolvency, and emerging technologies.
2025 is set to be a game-changer for the MENA region, with legal and regulatory shifts from 2024 continuing to reshape its economic landscape. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, and Bahrain are all implementing groundbreaking reforms in sustainable financing, investment laws, labor regulations, and dispute resolution. As the region positions itself for deeper global integration, businesses must adapt to a rapidly evolving legal environment.
Our Eyes on 2025 publication provides essential insights and practical guidance on the key legal updates shaping the year ahead—equipping you with the knowledge to stay ahead in this dynamic market.
A complete spectrum of legal services across jurisdictions in the Middle East & North Africa.
Biography
Mariam Sabet is a Partner at Al Tamimi & Company and a Fulbright Scholar. She leads Al Tamimi’s regional Antitrust and Competition practice.
Mariam specializes in antitrust and regulatory aspects of global M&A transactions covering the Middle East and handles complex multijurisdictional competition matters and has advised companies in a broad range of sectors.
She has an outstanding track record in handling high profile merger filings across the Middle East including UAE’s first ever filing in 2018 (the highly publicized Uber acquisition of Careem). She has handled several complex and high-profile competition matters including sensitive antitrust investigations and advised leading multinationals and prominent UAE family business corporations on all antitrust matters including creating bespoke competition compliance trainings.
She has also been instrumental in raising competition awareness in the UAE and the region and played a key role in shaping competition regulations in the UAE (and provided comments to its draft law). Known for her connections, she is heavily involved in all advocacy measures with the regulator and is considered a strategic advisor.
Mariam is an active member of the IBA and part of its Merger Control Working Group. She is also a member of the Antitrust Section of the ABA and Women AT. Mariam has recently participated as a speaker at the IBA’s Competition Conference in Florence as the sole representative of the Middle East (it was notably the first time the Middle East was being represented in a global panel).
Mariam was a key factor in Chambers & Partners first ever spotlight rankings becoming the only firm in the Middle East to receive this recognition for the second year in a row.
Furthermore, she has recently been included in GCR’s 7th edition of Women in Antitrust and was recognized by Asian Legal Business among the top 15 female practitioners in Asia. Mariam has also been selected to Co-Chair Global Competition Review’s first ever Middle East event in Dubai and looks forward to raising the competition profile in the region.
Recent Experience
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Advising Uber Technologies on the merger control aspects of its US$ 3.1 billion acquisition of Careem (the largest ride sharing provider in the Middle East)
• Advising private equity firm Blackstone on the merger control aspects of its $1.87 billion acquisition of 75% per cent stake in VFS Global.
• Advising ITIS Holding (PPF Group) on the merger control aspect of its acquisition of Vitronic Group.
• Advising Robau Beteiligungsverwaltung GmbH a consortium of Pierer Industrie AG, Mark Mateschitz Beteiligungs GmbH, Raiffeisen Beteiligungsholding GmbH and Invest Unternehmensbeteiligungs AG, on the merger control aspects of its acquisition of 50.1% of the shares in Rosenbauer International AG.
• Advising private equity firm KKR on the merger control aspects of its minority investment in Gulf Data Hub..
• Advising Dr Reddy’s Laboratories SA of the merger control aspects of its acquisition of the ex-US Nicotine Replacement Therapies business of Haleon plc and its group
• Successfully represented a pioneer Film Distributor in a competition complaint for abuse of dominance and barriers to market entry.
• Successfully represented a major Multinational Electronics Company in a competition complaint for abuse of dominance.
• Advising a Multinational Software and Business Solutions Company on issues related to (i) bid rigging; and (ii) customer/market allocations
• Advising a Multinational Pharmaceutical Company in the UAE on rules related to pharmaceutical matters namely predatory pricing and bundling.
• Advising a leading Automobile Company on rules related to trade associations and the sharing of information with competitors.
• Assist a Global Transport and Logistics Company in the investigation of an employee for anti-competitive conduct including interviewing the employee.
• Advising an American Tech Company on rules related to their exclusivity strategy.
• Advising a Japanese Manufacturing Company on market/customer allocation in distribution agreements.
Language(s)
- Arabic
- English
- French
Education
2001 – Bachelor of Laws, Cairo University in affiliation with Sorbonne University, Paris I
2005 – LL.M. in Intellectual Property & Technology (Top 10%), Franklin Pierce Law Centre New Hampshire
Admission
2002 – Advocate in Egypt
Practice(s)
Sector(s)
Insights
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