Global law firm Shearman & Sterling, active in the Middle East for over 50 years, has established an on-the-ground presence in Saudi Arabia in affiliation with Dr. Sultan Almasoud & Partners. The affiliation will harness Shearman & Sterling’s global network and provide legal support on inbound and outbound investments to clients in the country by partnering with Dr. Sultan Almasoud & Partners’ 16 lawyers across three offices in Riyadh, Jeddah and Al-Khobar.

“This is welcome news for our clients and very exciting news for our firm,” said Creighton Condon, Shearman & Sterling’s Senior Partner. “Our new affiliation in Saudi Arabia reinforces our market-leading position throughout the Middle East.”

The Saudi Arabian practice is home to a number of leading lawyers, including Dr. Sultan Almasoud and Sanjarbek Abdukhalilov.

Dr. Sultan Almasoud & Partners’ full legal team includes experienced Saudi- and English- qualified lawyers, fluent in Arabic, English, French and Russian, who advise on a wide range of practice areas, including local and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity, capital markets, corporate reorganizations, foreign investments, project development and dispute resolution.

Dr. Almasoud is Managing Partner of Abdulaziz Alassaf & Partners. US- and UK-educated, Dr. Almasoud is a Saudi-qualified attorney who specialises in corporate and litigation matters.

Dr. Sultan Almasoud & Partners’ corporate practice is led by Abdukhalilov, who regularly advises clients on M&A, private equity, joint ventures and capital market transactions. Abdukhalilov is a UK-qualified solicitor who trained and worked at the London office of Denton Wilde Sapte (now Dentons).

“We aim to take our practice to the next level through our partnership with Shearman & Sterling, a law firm with similar values and vision to our own – dynamic, ambitious and focused on client excellence,” said Dr. Almasoud.

In recent years Shearman & Sterling has worked on some of the largest and most significant deals and matters in Saudi Arabia, including advising The Dow Chemical Company on all aspects of the US$20 billion Sadara Integrated Chemicals Project, the largest industrial project ever built in a single phase in history. The firm also advised Saudi Basic Industries Corporation in its landmark US$11.6 billion acquisition and related financing of GE Plastics a few years ago. This was one of the largest-ever purchases by a Middle Eastern company of US assets.

The firm recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of its office in Abu Dhabi.