About

Zain Group is a Kuwait based mobile telecommunications company with a footprint in eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa and approximately 47 million active customers across the region and more than 6,000 employees. The legal department at Zain Group is an integral component of its larger strategy, with its innovativeness and legal expertise are increasingly relied upon, as the group searches for ways to grow its business and modernise its service offering. The department’s recent digitization efforts have been particularly noteworthy, as it brought in new technology through the digitalization of the contract review process and the reporting mechanism. Equally impressive has been the team’s transactional work with leadership shown on such important transactions as the sale and lease-back transaction for the passive physical infrastructure of its mobile tower portfolio in Kuwait with a value of over $150m, high value LCIA International arbitration in London worth more than $800m, rights issue of Zain KSA and a refinancing transaction with a value of more than $1.5bn. Firas Oggar, Zain Group’s head of legal and member of the he executive leadership team receives praise for his understanding and handling of high value International disputes & arbitration M&A deals, and joint ventures. Murad Fares- another name mentioned in this year’s research- was instrumental in the restructuring of the legal department and Regulatory department of Zain Iraq.