Clifford Chance
Tariq Imam leads our Middle East Real Estate Practice.
Tariq advises on the full range of real estate transactions in the region, with particular expertise in development projects, real estate financing and restructuring transactions, as well as hotel deals.
He has been practising in the Middle East since 2009, and has experience advising clients across a wide range of sectors, including financial services, hotel and leisure, aerospace, transport and healthcare.
- Advising Aldar Properties on its US$1 billion acquisition of real estate assets from TDIC, one of the largest real estate acquisitions in the history of the UAE
- Advised ADCB on a AED2.3 billion loan to GR Sowwah Retail Limited for the development of the Al Maryah Central Mall and related leisure facilities on Al Maryah island in Abu Dhabi
- Advised Sorouh Real Estate Company on its AED46 billion merger with Aldar Properties
- Advised DIFC Investments on the refinancing of its US$1.25 billion sukuk including all security and subdivision advice
- Represented Jebel Ali Free Zone on the refinancing of its AED7.5 billion sukuk, including various ownership structuring and security arrangements
- Advised the financiers of the SAR12 billion Jabal Omar development in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, which includes 37 hotel and residential towers
News and client work
Contact details
- Clifford Chance, Dubai
- +971 4503 2683
- Email me
- Speaks English and Arabic
- Practice area Real estate, M&A corporate
- Sector Real estate, Private equity
Career and qualifications
- Victoria University of Wellington (LLB BA) 2004
- Admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand 2004
- Joined Clifford Chance 2011
- Partner since 2019
Awards and citations
- “Market commentators say Tariq Imam … is widely respected among interviewees and his practice covers a diverse array of commercial real estate, with notable experience assisting with hospitality and healthcare matters.”
Chambers Global 2019: Real Estate: UAE
- Market commentators say up-and-comer Tariq Imam ‘has a very busy practice’ and is ‘well known in the market.’ He is widely respected among interviewees and his practice covers a diverse array of commercial real estate matters.
Chambers Global 2018: Real Estate, UAE - Tariq Imam leads the firm’s real estate team in the Middle East from Dubai. He is a regular feature of the department’s key transactions in the region and recently advised on a range of matters relating to the establishment of a new waterfront market in Hamriyah Port.
Chambers Global 2017: Real Estate, UAE
- Tariq Imam is the firm’s Head of Middle East Real Estate. Impressed observers comment: 'He is proactive, commercial and results focused for the client – not just interested in issuing opinions’.
Chambers Global 2016: Real Estate, UAE
- At Clifford Chance, counsel Tariq Imam advised Tamkeen Abu Dhabi on the development, management and operation of the New York University Abu Dhabi campus on Saadiyat Island. The team also assisted with several substantial M&A transactions in the real estate sector.
Legal 500 2016: Real Estate, UAE