Firth Cameron

Businesses across all sectors are reassessing legacy systems and operating models, adopting digital solutions to enhance competitiveness and respond to evolving customer expectations. Effective digital transformation can unlock access to new markets, strengthen customer engagement, improve operational efficiency and embed resilience within an increasingly data-driven environment.

Transformation programmes are inherently complex. Poorly structured projects can give rise to regulatory exposure, reputational damage and material operational disruption. We advise on disciplined governance, robust risk allocation and clear accountability frameworks to ensure successful delivery.

We support clients across the full spectrum of corporate and commercial issues arising in connection with digital transformation initiatives. Our work spans the development and roll-out of digital products and platforms, enterprise-wide technology implementation, outsourcing and managed service arrangements, and strategic technology collaborations. Where programmes encounter difficulty, we advise on claims, investigations and dispute resolution.

Our advice is lifecycle-focused — from project inception, governance design and procurement strategy through contracting, supplier management and mid-term reviews, to transition and exit planning.

The digital infrastructure sector continues to attract sustained institutional and strategic investment. Demand for capacity, driven by data-intensive technologies and AI-enabled applications, is reshaping infrastructure requirements while prompting heightened regulatory and geopolitical scrutiny.

We provide comprehensive advice across the digital infrastructure ecosystem, including in relation to data centres, telecommunications towers, cloud platforms, edge computing, fibre and 5G networks, small cells, WiFi deployments and active and passive RAN roll-outs.

We regularly advise on:

• M&A transactions and joint ventures across digital infrastructure assets
• Strategic third-party investments and operational partnerships
• Network sharing and co-location arrangements
• Customer contracts, connectivity and capacity agreements
• Power purchase arrangements and long-term service frameworks
• Transitional services and facilities management structures

Our advice reflects the long-term capital commitments, regulatory complexity and operational discipline inherent in digital infrastructure projects.

We advise sovereign and quasi-sovereign entities on international trade arrangements, cross-border strategic cooperation and foreign direct investment into emerging and frontier markets.

Our work includes structuring and negotiating bilateral and multilateral trade frameworks, state-backed joint ventures and strategic technology transfer arrangements. We regularly act on investments aligned with national development strategies, including infrastructure, ports, logistics, digitalisation and regulated sectors.

We support sovereign clients and international investors in navigating market entry, regulatory approvals, investment protection frameworks and public-private partnership models. We are accustomed to advising at ministerial and board level on mandates that carry both commercial and strategic significance.

We advise multinational corporations on complex restructurings, market exits and orderly wind-downs across emerging and frontier markets. These mandates frequently involve multi-jurisdictional corporate reorganisations, regulatory disengagement, asset disposals, tax exposures, employment rationalisation and stakeholder management in legally and politically sensitive environments.

Our work includes group simplification programmes, subsidiary liquidations, distressed divestments and negotiated exits from regulated sectors. We work closely with local advisers to ensure liabilities are properly identified and managed and that restructuring steps are sequenced efficiently.

We also advise on targeted and time-critical acquisitions undertaken to rationalise corporate structures. These transactions are often designed to consolidate minority interests, eliminate legacy shareholdings and streamline governance. We coordinate multi-jurisdictional share transfers, capital reorganisations and transitional service arrangements to deliver clean and commercially disciplined outcomes with speed.

We advise investors, operators and sovereign entities on mining and associated logistics projects across Africa. Our work spans concession structuring, state participation arrangements, offtake agreements, rail and port integration, and cross-border transport corridors.

Mining projects frequently require parallel development of logistics infrastructure. We advise on integrating rail, port and storage assets within bankable and operationally coherent structures, including public-private partnerships and state-backed infrastructure initiatives.

Our approach is pragmatic and risk-aware, ensuring projects align commercial objectives with sovereign frameworks and long-term operational sustainability.

We advise on the development, acquisition and operation of port and logistics infrastructure across Africa, including the integration of digital systems and port technology.

Our experience includes:

• Port concession agreements and terminal operating arrangements
• Public-private partnerships and state-backed joint ventures
• Rail and inland corridor integration
• Revenue-sharing and throughput models
• Strategic acquisitions and minority stake consolidations
• Long-term management and operating agreements

Increasingly, port and logistics projects incorporate digital transformation components. We advise on port community systems, customs digitisation platforms, cargo tracking technologies and integrated logistics software, including technology transfer, system integration and performance frameworks.

We combine infrastructure, technology and sovereign advisory expertise to deliver commercially robust and politically sustainable outcomes.

The United Arab Emirates remains a leading regional hub for capital, trade and technology. Its evolving foreign investment regime and free zone ecosystem offer significant opportunity but require careful structuring.

We advise multinational corporations, sovereign investors, family offices and growth enterprises on market entry and foreign direct investment into the UAE. Our work includes:

• Establishment of mainland and free zone entities
• Structuring 100% foreign ownership arrangements
• Joint ventures with local and government-related entities
• Regulatory licensing in regulated sectors
• Regional headquarters and holding structures
• Foreign investment approvals and strategic investment programmes
• Tax structuring, economic substance and governance frameworks

Our advice combines technical precision with practical regulatory insight, delivering clear, efficient and risk-managed entry strategies into one of the region's most dynamic markets.

Mark Firth is a Commonwealth-qualified barrister and solicitor. He has practised as an international corporate lawyer in the United Kingdom and Australia, and for the past 18 years in the United Arab Emirates.

He advises sovereign and quasi-sovereign entities, parastatals, entrepreneurs and public companies on complex cross-border corporate, commercial and tax matters. His practice is centred on the Middle East and Africa, where he is regularly instructed on significant and strategically sensitive, multi-jurisdictional transactions and restructurings.