David Griston joins Charles de Gaulle Fleurance M&A team in Abu Dhabi

French-origin law firm De Gaulle Fleurance welcomes renowned M&A specialist David Griston to its team in Abu Dhabi.

Griston has over 25 years of legal experience in mergers and acquisitions and commercial transactions, with a primary focus on transactions in the oil and gas, energy (conventional and renewable) and mining sectors.

The dealmaker was most recently Senior Vice President of Strategic Projects at 8 Rivers Capital, a firm providing infrastructure solutions for net zero ambitions. Prior to that, Griston worked for over 25 years at leading global law firms with offices in London, Amsterdam, Brussels and Moscow.

A former partner at Dentons, Clifford Chance and CMS, Griston has advised clients in commercial transactions in most parts of the world, advising portfolios of transactions exceeding the $300 billion mark. “Most of these deals are in the energy sector, especially oil and gas, power and mining,” he said.

His clients include governments (including Russia, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Madagascar), CEOs of state-owned companies, and boards of directors of many public companies. “The transactions I’ve been involved in have spanned the spectrum of transactions, from M&A and going private, to industry restructuring, complex pre-litigation, commodity financing, and new products including NFT products in South America.”

Company CEO Jean-Baptiste Santelli welcomes Griston to the Abu Dhabi offices (the 200-person Charles de Gaulle group also has offices in Paris and Brussels): “We are delighted to welcome David. From a legal and business point of view, His extensive experience in cross-border transactions will be an asset to Charles de Gaulle Fleurance and will enable the company to strengthen its international development operating from its Abu Dhabi office.”

“Amid the current energy crisis, there has been a shift in attitudes toward conventional and renewable energy sources as governments seek to close the energy gap while meeting their commitments to climate goals. Shifts in supply-side geography have led many companies to rethink their Long-term investment planning, this is one of the areas that I will be working on with the rest of the Charles de Gaulle Fleurance team,” Griston said.