OUR UAE STORY
We grew up with the UAE.
We helped establish its institutions, supported its businesses and shared in its ambition. Since 1973, this has been our home, and our life’s work.
LOCAL ROOTS. A LASTING COMMITMENT.
THE CITY CHANGED. OUR COMMITMENT STAYED.
A history you can see.A connection you can feel.
Our late founder, Sajjad Haider, began practising in a young, ambitious Dubai. The relationships he built became part of the firm’s foundations, and part of our responsibility to the generations that followed.
Our story lives in the institutions we helped establish, the businesses we supported and the places that became part of everyday life in the city.
Safa Park under construction, 1979.
01 / A PLACE TO COME TOGETHER
Helping a growing city make room for life.
Our founder, Sajjad Haider, helped establish one of Dubai’s first public parks. His commitment to Dubai was personal: he cared about the city as a place to live, raise families and build a future. That same sense of belonging and responsibility remains part of our firm today.
02 / CONNECTING A NATION
Before the world was one call away.
We helped the UAE Government form and establish its national telecommunications business in the 1970s and were appointed its first auditors. It was the beginning of an institution that would connect the nation and bring the UAE closer to the world.
Our relationship with the sector continued as UAE telecommunications businesses expanded internationally.
A vintage Etisalat payphone.
03 / BUILDING INSTITUTIONS
We helped build banks.
We helped establish two local banks, supporting their formation and hand-picking the people to lead them, building institutions that became part of the UAE’s financial landscape.
04 / BUILDING INDUSTRY
And businesses that became household names.
We also helped establish two Dubai food manufacturing businesses, both now publicly listed companies. They are part of a wider story of local enterprise growing into established industry.
05 / SHAPING THE CITY
Helping a growing city take shape.
As Dubai expanded, so did the need for homes, workplaces and commercial spaces. We helped establish Dubai Development Company, the UAE’s first publicly listed real estate company, laying the groundwork for a property sector that would go on to shape the city’s neighbourhoods, transform its skyline and become a cornerstone of its growth.
THE YEARS IN BETWEEN
A practice that kept moving.
1973
Our first chapter in Dubai
Sajjad Haider establishes the practice in the UAE, beginning a relationship with its business community that continues across generations.
1998
A dedicated advisory practice
Sajjad Haider & Associates is established to support the consulting needs of a growing business community.
2008
Our DIFC practice takes shape
Sajjad Haider LLP is established in DIFC, extending the practice’s audit, insolvency and forensic work.
2019
Establishing our ADGM practice
Sajjad Haider LLP is established in ADGM, extending the firm’s presence in the UAE’s international financial centres.
Today
The next generation carries it forward
Audit, tax, advisory and business services, shaped by local experience and connected internationally through Nexia.
SELECTED ASSIGNMENTS
Behind the decisions.Alongside the people.
A few examples of the work entrusted to us, from international acquisitions to new financial institutions and the responsibilities of independent assurance.
TRANSACTION VALUE / US DOLLARS
2.6 billion
Supporting a major cross-border telecoms acquisition.
VALUATION REVIEW & FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
We reviewed valuation models and supported the financial gap analysis for a UAE telecommunications group acquiring a stake in an overseas operator.
Our work helped the client assess the financial implications of the scope identified on the ground in a transaction valued at US$2.6 billion.
01
A Gulf strategy for a major US housing finance institution.
ISLAMIC FINANCE · MARKET ENTRY
Advice on market strategy and positioning, product structure, pricing and risk for Islamic finance opportunities across the Arabian Gulf.
02
Establishing an Islamic investment and finance company.
INSTITUTION FORMATION · ADVISORY
Consulting support for an Islamic bank on establishing an investment and finance company, bringing structure to a new business proposition.
03
Assurance where the scale demands experience.
STATUTORY AUDIT · INTERNAL AUDIT
Complex statutory audits for multi-billion-dollar entities, including an engagement involving a financial asset exceeding US$10 billion. Our internal audit experience also includes UAE listed beverage and bottled-water businesses.
04
Finding the financial story in the evidence.
INVESTIGATIONS · FORENSIC ACCOUNTING
Investigative work in a significant financial dispute, with the firm’s preliminary report referenced in published DIFC Court proceedings.
05
Helping family businesses move forward.
RESTRUCTURING · GOVERNANCE
Advice to established Dubai family conglomerates on corporate restructurings and governance changes, with an understanding of ownership, relationships and continuity.
A MILESTONE IN THE COURTS
2016
DIFC / COURT-APPOINTED LIQUIDATION
A first for the financial centre.A responsibility entrusted to us.
Shahab Haider was appointed liquidator in the DIFC private-bank case reported as the first non-voluntary winding up of a DIFC company ordered by its courts.
It is one chapter in a wider insolvency practice spanning DIFC, ADGM and other UAE jurisdictions.
Read the published accountTHE NEXT CHAPTER
Still here.Still looking ahead.
For the people starting something, building something or working through change. We bring over five decades of local experience, considered advice and a personal commitment to helping you move forward.