Latham & Watkins LLC

The firm: Latham & Watkins is a leading international law firm serving multinational companies, state-owned enterprises, investment banks, private equity funds, venture capital firms, sovereign wealth funds, governments and other organisations. The firm’s global platform spans Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US, and consists of internationally recognised practices across a wide spectrum of transactional, litigation, corporate and regulatory areas. Latham lawyers offer unrivalled legal resources and strategic commercial thinking to provide clients with innovative solutions to complex business and legal matters.

Latham lawyers have been advising some of the most active strategic and financial dealmakers in the Middle East for over 20 years. The Middle East practice combines regional knowledge and experience with an international network of offices to provide comprehensive service to clients with interests in the Middle East, Africa, Turkey, South Asia and beyond.

Latham’s leading Saudi lawyers have a long history working in the Kingdom and have a deep understanding of Saudi business culture and the Saudi legal system. The Riyadh team members have strong experience representing banks, sovereign wealth funds and other businesses located or operating in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region.

Areas of practice: The office has earned considerable market recognition as the number one law firm for capital markets, corporate and M&A and banking & private credit, among others, based on a record of success and a unified culture of innovation and collaboration.

The team in Riyadh advises on some of the most significant and landmark transactions in the Saudi market, including capital markets, banking and general finance, financial restructuring, M&A and joint ventures, project finance and development transactions. Latham lawyers advised on the first major corporate debt restructuring in Saudi Arabia, the largest IPO in the Middle East and a number of innovative Islamic financings.

The firm’s lawyers represent clients across a variety of industries such as education, energy, financial services, government entities, cleantech, renewable energy, healthcare, infrastructure, oil and gas, petrochemicals, power, real estate/construction, retail and telecommunications, and is one of the few firms with a dedicated mining and metals group. Its premier energy practice offers a diverse team of lawyers based in major financial, commercial and regulatory centres around the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the US.

In addition, the firm provides clients with Islamic finance capabilities through its award-winning global Islamic finance practice. Latham’s Saudi lawyers counsel clients on the development of groundbreaking transactions in numerous jurisdictions.

Latham’s M&A team in the Middle East includes both English and US-qualified M&A lawyers who bring to bear an in-depth knowledge of the law and practice applicable to these transactions. The firm’s leading Middle East corporate finance lawyers advise on many high-profile debt and equity capital market transactions, including GCC regulatory matters.