Sidley Eyes Middle East Work With M&A Hire From White & Case

Sidley Austin is bringing on longtime White & Case international M&A partner Michiel Visser as a partner in New York as the firm expands its private equity and mergers and acquisitions work to the Middle East.

Visser’s clients have included Qatar Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund and its investment arm Qatar Holding, as well as Qatar Energy, a state-owned petroleum company. He has served on White & Case’s lawyers committee and office executive in Doha, Qatar.

“The Middle East is an exciting place to do business with and we expect it to become increasingly important in the next five to 10 years,” Visser said.

Global deal activity in the Middle East has reached $133.2 billion, down roughly 14.9% from 2021, according to Bloomberg data. While some markets in the West may be edging towards a recession, the Middle East markets are more in a boom, Visser said.

Sidley is making the hire after expanding its private equity practice through lateral hires over the last decade, burnishing its reputation for its public companies M&A work.

The firm recorded its best three months in terms of deal value in nearly four years in the first quarter of 2022 and has since advised on 286 deals so far this year worth $144.9 billion, according to Bloomberg data.

Sidley’s private equity practice now has more than 440 lawyers in the U.S., Europe and Asia, but moving into the Middle East through Visser’s hire is “a natural extension,” said Brian Fahrney, co-leader of the firm’s global M&A and private equity practice.

Visser joined White & Case in 2004 before becoming partner in 2012. He was most recently the head of White & Case’s Netherlands country practice.

His clients, which include sovereign wealth funds, private equity funds and other parties coming out of the Middle East and Gulf states, are large investors and increasingly playing an important part in the financial architecture of the world, Visser said.

He also recently advised QIA on its investment in sports e-commerce business Fanatics Holdings as a part of the sports e-commerce business’s $1.5 billion funding round earlier this year.

Visser’s move to Sidley was brokered by Sabina Lippman, partner and co-founder of global legal recruitment firm Lippman Jungers Bala.