Clifford Chance

AS&H in co-operation with Clifford Chance acts as issuer's counsel to ACWA Power on its US$1.2 billion landmark IPO and US$10.9 billion listing on the Tadawul

Abuhimed Alsheikh Alhagbani Law Firm (AS&H) in co-operation with Clifford Chance has acted as issuer’s counsel to International Company for Power and Water Projects (ACWA Power) on its US$1.2 billion landmark IPO and US$10.9 billion listing on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

The IPO is the largest IPO in Saudi Arabia since Saudi Aramco's IPO in 2019. The institutional investor tranche, which was marketed domestically and internationally to raise more than US$1 billion from investors under Regulation S, accounted for 90 percent of the IPO and was 248 times oversubscribed, attracting funds exceeding SAR1.127 trillion (over US$300 billion) – an unprecedented sum for a Saudi IPO.

ACWA Power is a developer, investor and operator of power generation (including renewable energy) and desalinated water production plants. Registered and established in 2004 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; ACWA Power employs approximately 3,500 people and is currently present in 13 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. ACWA Power’s portfolio includes 64 assets at a total project cost of SAR248 billion (US$66 billion).

A strong contingent of lawyers from both AS&H and Clifford Chance advised on this transaction.

The AS&H team was led by Mansoor Alhagbani (Partner, Head of the Capital Markets & Financial Regulatory) with support from Senior Associate Rakan Kawar and Associates Haifa AlDamegh, Jomana Al-Kathiri, Motaz Al-Fozan, Haya Al-Rowaita, Noura Abdulrahman, Aljazi Alhagbani, Ghada Al-Mazyad, Abdullah Al-Huwayshan, Naif Al-Sheikh, Aljoahra BinAhmed, Aljawharah Al-Sadoun, Abdulwahab Al-Kahtani, Alia Al-Kadi, Khaled Al-Bakr and Nawaf Mutwalli. Yasser Al-Hussain (Partner, Head of Banking & Finance) along with Senior Associates Mazin Al-Zamil and Abdulkhaliq El-Shayyal and Associate Mohammed Ghazzawi advised on certain aspects of the transaction.

A cross-border Clifford Chance team was jointly led by Dubai-based Partner and Head of the Middle East Equity Capital Markets Practice, Mike Taylor, and Paris-based US Securities Partner Alex Bafi, who were supported by Counsel Olivier Plessis (Paris), Senior Associate Rezwan Azam (Dubai) and Associates Massimiliano Valli (Dubai), Ryan Bosch (Paris) and Garo Yaghsezian (Paris).

A Clifford Chance team led by Dubai-based Partner Richard Parris advised on the projects related workstreams.

AS&H and Clifford Chance have a strong track record advising on some of the largest, most innovative and most complex deals in the Middle East. Together, we have advised on the following notable equity capital markets transactions in the Kingdom: NCB Capital on its underwriting and sub-underwriting arrangements in relation to Saudi Aramco's US$25.6 billion IPO (Equity Deal of the Year – IFLR Middle East Awards 2020); the underwriters, Jadwa Investment and Riyad Capital, on Sulaiman Al-Habib's IPO – the first IPO in Saudi Arabia's main market in 2020 and healthcare sector since 2016; and the underwriters on Arabian Centres Company's IPO – the first ever IPO in the Kingdom with a full international offering, including a Rule 144A offering (Equity Deal of the Year – IFLR Middle East Awards 2019).