Saudi Arabia is the fastest growing jurisdiction for Dentons in the Middle East, its latest financial results show.
The firm, which is the largest globally, achieved 35% revenue growth in Saudi Arabia for the financial year to April 2024. Meanwhile, it reported 22% revenue growth across the Middle East, with corporate, banking & finance, disputes, energy, transport, and infrastructure all recording robust growth.
“Saudi Arabia is a key market for Dentons,” the firm’s UK, Ireland, and Middle East (UKIME) chief executive, Paul Jarvis, told Law Middle East.
Dentons has been active in Saudi Arabia for over 50 years. It was one of the first international law firms to receive a licence to operate in the Kingdom and relocate its regional headquarters to Riyadh.
The team comprises 20 lawyers, including four partners, across two offices in Riyadh and Jeddah, led by managing partner Ziad Saad.
“Over the past three years, we have recruited a number of experienced lawyers into our Saudi corporate, finance, energy and real estate practices, helping us grow our client work in these areas,” said Jarvis. “[We] are always looking at opportunities to expand our Saudi team.”
Earlier this week Dentons announced it had recruited a prominent judicial and regulatory expert as a partner in Riyadh. Abdullah Alsulaimi joined the firm’s dispute resolution team from the Ministry of Justice in Saudi Arabia, where he advised the Minister of Justice as the Deputy Minister for Laws and International Cooperation.
“Abdullah’s arrival is another important milestone in our efforts to build a full-service capability Saudi Arabia, and we are also seeing an increase in the need for regulatory expertise on the ground as the Kingdom continues to implement significant policy and legislative and regulatory changes in line with its 2030 vision,” said Jarvis.
“The expansion of our domestic capabilities has enabled us to support some prominent Saudi clients and international clients with local interests on significant mandates.”
The firm advised the Saudi Ministry of Investment (MISA) in relation to seven of 12 economic support deals that formed part of its first wave of projects supported by the Private Sector Partnership Reinforcement (Shareek) Programme, with a project value of US$51 billion.
Other recent deal highlights include advising Arsenale on its venture with Saudi Arabian Railways (SAR) to introduce the ‘Dream of the Desert’ luxury train cruise in Saudi Arabia, as well as the Asyad Group on its acquisition of 49% of Swissport Saudi Arabia Limited, a subsidiary of the Swissport International Group.
Dentons has also this year advised Alpha Capital, a Sharia-compliant investment company licensed by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) of Saudi Arabia, on its acquisition, through a Sharia-compliant structured fund, of 20% of Forus Real Estate Investment and Development Company.
“We have built a network of strong relationships with Saudi governmental authorities and regulators which enables us to provide an efficient response to issues where local law is required,” said Jarvis.
In the year ahead, Jarvis, who was reappointed for a second three-year term earlier this year, said the firm aims to continue to look at areas where it could add additional resource to capitalise on the opportunties in the Kingdom.
“Over the course of the next year, we hope to further embed and integrate our expanded Saudi team into doing work for both existing clients and for new clients who have turned to us in light of our growing practice offering,” he said.
