One of the only firms in Saudi Arabia with a top-tier ranking in all areas, for many lawyers Al-Jadaan & Partners is the leading firm in the country. "Clifford Chance are very dominant here, they have a big team, they've been in the market a long time and they are well-established," explains one lawyer....
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One of the only firms in Saudi Arabia with a top-tier ranking in all areas, for many lawyers Al-Jadaan & Partners is the leading firm in the country. "Clifford Chance are very dominant here, they have a big team, they've been in the market a long time and they are well-established," explains one lawyer. Another agrees affirming that it is among the most active on the market. "They have been here for a while I think it's going very well for them. They are involved in a number of high profile transactions and are one of the most successful firms in Saudi Arabia."
Of the firm's lawyers, the name continually mentioned is the head of the Clifford Chance's associate firm, Mohammed Al-Jadaan. "I have such high regard for Mohammed, he is his own man and he's very good. He deserves the number one spot," says one peer, while another agrees: "I have a huge amount of respect for Mohammed." Clients say Al-Jadaan is the first person they call if they have a restructuring or debt capital markets mandate. "He's not an overly particular lawyer, usually lawyers raise issues but he always comes up with solutions. Especially when we have very complex transactions restructurings, we always call Mohammed Al-Jadaan. He knows the tactful way to get things done with the client."
Former leading lawyer Mohamed Hamra-Krouha has relocated to the Abu Dhabi office but this is not the loss it might appear given that the UAE practices serves as a hub and he will continue to support the Riyadh practice from Abu Dhabi. A new addition to the team is financial products and regulation partner Tim Plews, who relocated from London in September 2010.
In the banking sector, practise head Abdulaziz Al-Abduljabbar led a team negotiating on behalf of Saudi Oger securing a $1 billion loan facility and SR3.9 billion ($1 billion) APG facility. Elsewhere on the finance side, before he departed, Hamra-Krouha was active for Deutsche Bank and Bank Audi on a $400 million cross-border leveraged financing for the buy-out of a major regional insurance company, Medgulf, from Saudi Oger and was finalised in March 2011. In an ongoing piece of restructuring work, Al-Jadaan has been active for the minority shareholders of a large Saudi steel company, advising on refinancing its SR8 billion worth of conventional and Islamic facilities.
In the project finance space the firm advised on one of the key deals in the last 12 months, the Ma'aden aluminium and rolling mill development. A joint team from the Dubai, Frankfurt and Paris worked on the two projects, in conjunction with Al-Jadaan and Hamra-Krouha, advising the lending group, comprising Islamic and conventional institutions, on the $7.5 billion financing, which closed in November 2010.
With the equity markets volatile, it has been a difficult time to launch deals. The firm has advised on several that haven't come to market but continues to act for key clients on IPOs that are yet to be made public and remain confidential.
Debt markets have been less affected by the instability in the region and with the Saudi banks so liquid the sukuk (Islamic bond) market has provided the firm with mandates. The association has had two notable successes, Bank Al Jazira's SR1 billion sukuk, announced in March 2011 and the Saudi Binladin Group's SR700 million sukuk completed in July 2010. This latter transaction represents the first short-term commercial paper in Saudi Arabia and the first sukuk where investors may share the benefit of an assignment of contract proceeds.
A highlight deal for the firm on the corporate side saw it act for Saudi Telecom, the country's largest operator, on establishing a $2 billion joint venture with outsourcing services company Aegis.
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