Dubai based John Podgore, a recognised expert in international oil & gas transactions and energy-focused projects, is the latest partner to join AG's burgeoning global Construction, Energy and Infrastructure (CEI) practice, one of the firm's key investment priorities. Mr Podgore, who will be based in AG's Dubai office, was most recently general counsel at the MENA Energy Group, prior to that he spent over fifteen years in private practice, ten of those as a partner in Dubai.

Podgore, who is fluent in Arabic, Russian and French has over the last five years become increasingly involved in Africa energy and infrastructure transactions, which reflects Dubai’s growing role in respect of the genesis and execution of African business transactions. His appointment to the firm's corporate & commercial division follows a number of partner appointments in the CEI space. In November; Chau Ee Lee, an expert in contentious and non-contentious construction projects joined the Singapore office; in September Hong Kong based Vivien Yang, a recognised M&A expert in the oil and gas, LNG and infrastructure sectors, joined from Simmons & Simmons. Earlier this year Ton van Den Bosch joined AG's Singapore practice from Ince & Co where he headed its Energy and Projects team and Aberdeen-based oil and gas specialist David McEwing joined from Pinsents.

Andrew Johnson, Head of AG's GCC Office commented:

"The GCC is core to our international strategy and we have ambitious plans to continue that growth agenda across the region. Our focus in the region is on recruiting the best talent in order to continue our growth trajectory and win further credible, market-leading mandates and drive forward the AG brand. We have at least four new partners joining in the next six months across a number of our service lines. John's reputation in the  market is first class, he is a recognised specialist in his field and has an intuitive understanding of the GCC market that will allow us to access a broader transactional client base in a new sector in the region. John's fluency in Arabic will enable him to act as a bridge between local clients and foreign investors and his sector alignment across Infrastructure projects and CEI is a key component of the Board's commitment to prioritise and resource our CEI practice. John is recognised for his oil and gas work as well as power project development and will focus on project development and energy across the GCC and Africa. John will be a great fit for us and I am delighted he recognises our ambition in the CEI space and has chosen to join us."

John Podgore commented: 

“I am thrilled to be joining AG's global CEI practice, to be part of a focused, ambitious and expanding GCC team that is gaining significant traction and momentum. AG's ambition to assemble by 2021 one of the strongest global CEI practices in the market is really gathering momentum and this was a major incentive for me joining.  I have served clients that have included state owned companies, listed companies, and private companies across several jurisdictions including the GCC, Africa, Central Asia and Europe and I believe that AG's vision and ambition to continue to work on international mandates of significance and scale is very enticing and I am delighted to be part of the team."