Khaled is a corporate lawyer and strategic adviser, dual qualified in Canada and the Middle East, with extensive experience representing clients on a wide range of corporate, projects and other high-stakes strategic matters.
His practice focuses on helping businesses, small and large, throughout their lifecycle, from incorporation to restructurings, to venture capital investing and acquisitions, and to exit events like a sale. He also helps clients construct, develop, and procure special projects in various industries.
Khaled serves as the outside legal counsel for some of his clients. He has worked within a variety of in-house client legal teams, having been seconded to Shaw Communications (a leading Canadian telecommunications company traded on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges) and Infrastructure Ontario (a Crown Agency of the Government of Ontario), where he was part of a large team advising on some of Canada’s most significant infrastructure, transit, corporate and real estate projects.
Khaled was called to the Bar in the Province of Ontario in January 2020 after attending the University of Toronto Law School and articling with a leading bank in Toronto.
Besides his Canadian experience, Khaled has a detailed working knowledge of the UAE’s legal systems and solid connections in the UAE business community, having spent eight years in the UAE as a lawyer. Among other in-house roles, he was the regional counsel at Fincantieri, the Italian government’s naval shipbuilding and defence arm, counselling on their US$8 billion naval shipbuilding programs and business expansion in the Middle East.
Client Work - Projects and Infrastructure
Current and past project representations include:
- Shaw Communications in the negotiations of utilities pole attachment agreements and municipality access agreements for fiber-optic and cable infrastructure across Canada.
- Infrastructure Ontario‘s Request for Proposal Documents (RFPs) of the Go-Rail Expansion Project.
- Infrastructure Ontario‘s Go-Rail Expansion project agreement, a single fully integrated contract using the Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain (DBFOM) model.
- Infrastructure Ontario’s Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) project agreements including term sheets, joint ventures, construction lease and option agreements with developers to jointly build mixed-use developments as part of Ontario Line subway project.
- Infrastructure Ontario, in the master development agreements regarding the design, construction, and function of the Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) Project, covering Bridge, Corktown, East Harbour, Exhibition, High Tech, King-Bathurst and Queen-Spadina Subway Stations in Toronto.
- Meridian Credit Union, a leading financial institution in Toronto, in a share subscription transaction in FinTech Startup that includes legal due diligence, software licensing, drafting of transactional documents and securities law compliance on matters such as private issuer and exemptions from prospectus.
- Motusbank, a federally chartered online bank in Toronto, in standardizing the terms and conditions of the bank’s cloud-based services, including Saas agreements, software licensing agreements, click-wrap agreements, and other technology-related agreements for the use of the bank’s online users.
- Fincantieri as part of the in-house legal team, in closing a US$5.6 billion naval shipbuilding contract signed with the Qatari Navy in 2016.
- Fincantieri as part of the in-house legal team, in the negotiation of US$ multi-billion procurement contracts, to equip and arm newly ordered warships, with suppliers such as Airbus, Raytheon, MBDA, Rolls-Royce, Thales and Leonardo.
- Eagle Hills a leading real estate developer, in several hotels operation agreements with Marriott Inc to license the operation of several (5) stars hotels and resorts in the Middle East region including St. Regis Hotel and residences, W Hotel & Residences and Westin Hotel.
- ENGIE, to structure the set- up and finance of a 150 MW solar power project in Jordan.
- Fincantieri, in closing a complex “Engineering, Procurement and Construction” contract for a military shipyard in the UAE and related joint venture contract for the management and operation.
- Fincantieri, in a US$250 million refitting contracts of naval units (ISS, FOS, ILS) with several naval forces in the Middle East.
- National Holding, in several international procurement and sale of goods contracts and trade between countries that involved banking arrangements such as letter of credits, bank guarantees and other documents for shipping and handling goods.
- National Holding in the setup, design and construction of Greenfield cable factory in Algeria.
- Damac Properties in providing contract drafting to construction, consultancy, plot and unit SPA related to US$ multi-billion real estate projects in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, KSA and the UK based on FIDIC, NEC and bespoke forms of contract.
- Damac Properties as part of the inhouse legal team, in the negotiation of a US$ 250 million construction contract with Arabtec Holding to construct Damac’s 90 floors tower (Ocean Heights in Dubai Marina) in Dubai, UAE.
Client Work - Corporate and Commercial
- Shaw Communications in the US$ 21-billion Rogers-Shaw merger.
- Infrastructure Ontario, in leading the negotiation of several complex term sheets outlining the general rules and provisions for future business joint ventures between the Province of Ontario and several sophisticated developers and investment firms, such as Choice REIT.
- Motusbank, a federally chartered online bank in Toronto, in standardizing the terms and conditions of the bank’s cloud-based services, including Saas agreements, software licensing agreements, click-wrap agreements, and other technology-related agreements for the use of the bank’s online users.
- Fincantieri, the largest naval shipbuilding group in the world, in naval ship IP design agreements, transfer of technology and licensing agreements negotiated and signed with several armed forces in the Middle East region to protect Fincantiari’s intellectual property rights.
- Jordan Aviation‘s major shareholder to conclude a US$26 million share acquisition transaction from a large international private equity firm and related escrow agreements with Citi Bank London.
- Jordan Aviation‘s major shareholder, to conclude a US$10 million share acquisition transaction.
- Jordan Aviation, in its set-up of an aviation fund of US$30 million. Established fund company, management and sponsor companies. Prepared investment management agreement and subscription agreement. Moreover, drafted dry lease contracts for aircrafts as part of the fund transaction.
- Fincantieri, in the negotiation of a joint venture transaction with Al Zamil Shipyard in KSA for the design and construction of several offshore vessels and building of facilities for military and offshore vessels in the new King Abdul Aziz Port in KSA.
- National Holding, in the acquisition by a German firm (Knauf) to 51% stake in National Holding’s subsidiary.
- National Holding, in a joint venture transaction with Vivartia, a Greek holding group based in Athens.
- National Holding, in a US$36 million acquisition by Qatari sovereign wealth fund to National Holding’s shares in a Steel Factory in Egypt.
- National Holding, in a US$40 million capitalization in a home appliances factory in Jordan, with ownership restructuring.
- Dubai Bank and Dubai Holding, a global conglomerate and sovereign wealth fund of the government of Dubai and its ruling family, in producing a due diligence report and structuring advise in respect of a US$300 million cross-border acquisition/ privatization in a state-owned Jordanian Bank.
- Dubai Holding in producing four separate legal due diligence reports with respect to acquisition transactions totaling close to US$200 million in Eastern investment group holding UK, International Energy Management Company, Jordan Airline Training and Simulation (JATS) and Jordanian Flight and Catering Services Company (Subsidiary of Alpha Co. -UK);
- Kuwait National Bank in producing a due diligence report with respect to acquisition transaction in Bank Al Etihad in Jordan.
- National Holding, in several international procurement and sale of goods contracts and trade between countries that involved contract drafting and other banking documentations such as letter of credits, bank guarantees and other documents for shipping and handling of goods based on Incoterms Rules.
Client Work - Business Dispute Resolution
- Jordan Aviation, in resolving a US$6 million commercial aviation dispute following settlement agreement and the discontinuance of proceedings in the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in England, United Kingdom.
- Jordan Aviation, in resolving a US$120 million investment dispute with a large international private equity firm.
- A UAE client in a US$250 million cross-border dispute resolution involving seven companies in several jurisdictions, including Italy, France, Austria, Jordan, UK, and the US. (Rewarded twice by the client)
- A UAE client in a US$3.6 million arbitration case and the final settlement of US$1.5 million.
- A UAE Real estate developer based in Dubai in solving several real estate investment disputes involving parties such a German pension fund with an aggregate investment real estate portfolio of $US350 million.
- Damac Properties in the adjudication with Arabtec to resolve a dispute over the construction of a number of projects in Dubai and Amman, Jordan.
- Damac Properties, in concluding several settlement agreements outside court to resolve disputes in relation to engineering and construction of more than 25 real estate projects in the Middle East.
- A UAE client, in a US$100 million arbitration case under the International Chamber of Commerce Rules of Arbitration. Represented Damac as a member of the legal team in the arbitration sessions before the arbitration tribunals by hearings and written submissions.