12 Jan 2026
Ashurst appoints Chris Beaumont-McQuillan as Abu Dhabi partner to build Middle East real estate practice
"Ashurst appoints Chris Beaumont-McQuillan as partner in Abu Dhabi to lead its Middle East private equity real estate practice, focusing on joint ventures, funds and cross-border transactions."
Chris is a private equity real estate (PERE) specialist with more than a decade of experience advising global and regional investors, including private equity funds, asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, pension funds and REITs, on complex cross-border real estate transactions across the GCC, Europe, the US, Asia and Africa. His expertise covers the full investment lifecycle, with particular focus on joint ventures, funds, capital solutions and high-value transactions in sectors such as senior living, purpose-built student accommodation, hotels and leisure, industrial and logistics, data centres and large-scale development platforms. He joins Ashurst at partner level to lead and develop the firm’s Middle East real estate capability.
Ashurst said the appointment underlines its sustained investment in the region and the establishment of a dedicated GCC real estate capability anchored in Abu Dhabi. The hire follows a period of rapid growth for the firm in the Middle East: in under two years the team has more than doubled to 20 partners, following recent additions and relocations including Clint Dempsey (Banking), Maha Osman and Vasi Papadopoulos (both Corporate) in Dubai, and Martyn Rogers (Banking), Tammam Kaissi (Disputes), Adam Skibsted (Projects), Raheel Butt (Regulatory) and Leonid Stoliarski (Corporate/ECM) in the region.