Profile: Oliver Agha

Islamic Finance

Biography: Islamic Finance

Oliver Agha is a partner at DLA Piper, considered the largest law firm in the world by a number of lawyers. He is DLA Piper's global head of Islamic finance and also head of DLA Piper's Saudi Arabian practice. Oliver is recognised as a leading Islamic and project finance lawyer in numerous publications.

DLA Piper's Islamic finance practice has grown to among the largest worldwide. Oliver's team won the 2008 Global Recognition in Islamic Finance for a Law Firm Award (promoting excellence in Islamic finance) in recognition of their exceptional contribution to the Islamic Finance field. This was awarded by the International Islamic Finance Forum (IIFF), under the Patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Oliver brings a deep knowledge of sharia, acquired after years of study that is on-going, coupled with hands-on experience in structuring, documenting and negotiating landmark deals in the region with a business-savvy, client friendly and responsive approach. Oliver has served as a lead lawyer in some exceptional and novel Islamic project financings in the region with an aggregate deal value in excess of US$30 billion, including: Rabigh (US$8.5 billion petrochemical project, recognised as Project Finance Deal of the Year in 2006 by IFLR); Yansab (US$5 billion petrochemicals complex in Saudi Arabia, awarded the Petrochemical Deal of the Year in 2006 by Euromoney Magazine Middle East); Al Waha (greenfield project, awarded Middle East Islamic Deal of the Year 2006 by Project Finance Magazine, and Project Finance Deal of the Year by Islamic Finance News Awards 2007); SABIC sukuk (US$800 million deal, the first ever sukuk to be approved by the Capital Markets Authority in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, awarded the Islamic Finance News Deal of the Year 2006); advising a major petrochemical company in connection with the first ever refinancing of several conventional finance loans into Islamic ijara financing arrangements in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; advising leading Islamic banks on structuring, documenting and negotiating novel Islamic financing structures, including sukuk-al-ijaras and sukuk al mudarabas; advising, structuring and documenting the conversion of a US$1 billion real estate fund focused on US-based investments into a sharia compliant fund; advising a prominent insurance provider in structuring and documenting Islamic insurance (takaful) structures for worldwide product application; advising lenders on the US$1.5 billion murabaha variant financing of an infrastructure project; advising Noor Islamic Bank, arranger and Islamic lender, in a US$115 million sharia compliant syndicated ijara facility in the UAE; advising a major Saudi corporate in connection with a US$500 million sukuk-al-ijaras financing of the construction of a shopping centre; and advising various international banks, like DnB Nor (Norway), on Islamic financing arrangements and other European banks on diminishing musharaka aviation financing structures.

Oliver routinely advises on devising innovative, yet compliant and commercially viable Islamic finance structures in Ijara, murabaha, mudaraba, takaful, musharaka, istisna'a, wakala and sukuk constructs. Oliver's practice covers a number of sectors, including Islamic project finance (petrochemicals, power, and infrastructure), Islamic banking, Islamic capital markets (sukuk), Islamic private equity, Islamic real-estate financing and Islamic insurance (takaful).

Oliver spent much of his legal career at Fulbright & Jaworski as a project finance, and international finance lawyer in Beijing, New Delhi, Hong Kong and Washington, DC, including work on one of the earliest Islamic financing deals in South Asia. Subsequently, Oliver moved to Clifford Chance's affiliate in Saudi Arabia, where he headed the projects team and co-headed the Islamic finance practice. Oliver then joined DLA Piper in early 2007 as global head of Islamic finance.

Oliver graduated from New York Law School in 1994, where he was on the Journal of International and Comparative Law. He obtained a BS in Management and International Affairs from New York University in 1987.

Oliver is a member of the State Bars of New York and Connecticut and has practised as a foreign lawyer in Hong Kong, Beijing and other Asian capitals. Oliver is a frequent keynote speaker at Islamic finance conferences worldwide, and the author of published papers, articles and presentations regarding salient Islamic finance topics. Oliver is on the board of leading financial institutions and entities, including on two committees of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation of Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI).