David Griston joins M&A team of De Gaulle Fleurance in Abu Dhabi

French-origin law firm De Gaulle Fleurance has welcomed high-profile M&A expert David Griston to its team in Abu Dhabi.

Griston brings more than 25 years of experience in the legal side of mergers & acquisitions and commercial transactions, with a principal focus on deals in the oil & gas, energy (traditional and renewable) and mining sectors.

The dealmaker most recently served as Senior Vice President for Strategic Projects at 8 Rivers Capital, a company that provides infrastructure solutions for net-zero ambitions. Before that, Griston spent 25+ years at leading global law firms across their offices in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Moscow.

A former partner at Dentons, Clifford Chance and CMS, Griston has advised clients on commercial transactions in most parts of the world, with his portfolio of deals advised surpassing the $300 billion mark. “Most of these deals were in the energy space and specifically oil, gas and power and mining segments,” he said.

His roster of clients ranges from governments (including Russian, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Madagascar), the CEOs of state-owned companies and the boards of many listed companies. “Deals I worked on span transactions landscape, from mergers & acquisitions and privatizations, through to restructuring of industries, complex pre-litigation, commodity financings, and novel products including an NFT offering in South America.”

Welcoming Griston to the Abu Dhabi office (200-strong De Gaulle Fleurance also has offices in Paris and Brussels), company CEO Jean-Baptiste Santelli said: “We are delighted to welcome David. His extended experience on cross border transactions from both a legal and business perspective will be an asset for De Gaulle Fleurance and will allow the firm to strengthen its international development operated from our office in Abu Dhabi.”

“With the current energy crisis, attitudes to both conventional power and renewables have shifted as governments seek to bridge the energy gap while keeping to their climate goal commitments. The change in supply-side geographies is causing many companies to reconsider their longer-term investment plans and this is one of the areas that I will be working on with the rest of the team at De Gaulle Fleurance,” said Griston.