Law Firm of Hassan Mahassni

Corporate, and Mergers & Acquisitions

As one of the earliest corporate practitioners in the history of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Law Firm of Hassan Mahassni has, and continues to, regularly advise on a wide array of corporate and commercial matters to both regional and international corporations and entities.

With a corporate practice in the Kingdom of around 50 years, the Law Firm’s corporate team continues to rely on its “in-depth knowledge of the nuanced complexities of Saudi law” (Legal 500, 2019) and its extensive corporate experience in the Saudi market while adapting to the fast-changing corporate environment in the Kingdom to offer the best advice and assistance on, inter alia, joint ventures, incorporations, restructurings, liquidations, foreign investments and commercial contracts.

The Law Firm has acted for and represented buyers, sellers, lenders, advisers and financial intermediaries, majority and minority shareholders, multinational corporations, medium-sized companies and individuals. It advised and provided professional consultations to multinational engineering and constructions companies, shipping companies, hotel management companies, hospital management companies, insurance companies, producers of consumer and industrial products, investment banks, commercial banks, Islamic financial institutions, airlines, mining companies, electronics manufacturers, defense contractors, onshore and offshore drilling companies, publishing and entertainment companies and project developers.

Examples of some of our representative experiences include acting as:

• Counsel to Saudi American Bank in connection with its merger with United Saudi Bank;
• Counsel to one of the top ten largest shipping agents in connection with its joint venture project with its local Saudi agent;
• Counsel to a multi-billion Saudi government-owned joint venture company specialized in the production of chemicals on the acquisition of assets along with the negotiation of an O&M contract with another of its subsidiaries;
• Counsel to a Hong Kong based port operator in connection with its acquisition of a majority stake in a Saudi Arabian port con cession in Dammam, Saudi Arabia;
• Counsel to a major French bottled water producer in connection with its acquisitions of strategic controlling interests in companies engaged in bottled water production in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar;
• Counsel to a major international oil company in connection with the rationalization of its interests in the Middle East inclu ding the disposal of a substantial minority interest in a Saudi Arabian company and the acquisition of its former partner’s equal stake in an offshore entity;
• Counsel to Haji Abdullah Alireza & Co. in connection with the acquisition of majority shares in 2 companies owning and operating under BOT scheme the desalination plants in King Abdulaziz International Airport and Petro Rabigh;
• Counsel to a renowned Saudi Arabian company in relation to its acquisition of a controlling stake in an international group of companies engaged in the production of baby formula milk;
• Counsel for a major North American participant in the IT industry in connection with a possible participation in a joint vent ure with Saudi interests;
• Counsel to an Australian company on the formation of a joint venture for the production of electricity transformers in Saudi Arabia; Counsel to a Saudi Arabian client in a proposed joint venture to publish an Arab language telecommunications magazine;
• Counsel to a Saudi Arabian trading company in connection with the establishment of a joint venture with a U.S. based company for the production of chemical cement and adhesive products in Saudi Arabia.

Dispute Resolution

The Firm is consistently ranked as one of the best Dispute Resolution firms in the country. Hassan Mahassni is recognised as the stalwart of Saudi Arabian litigation.

Chambers Global has for more than a decade highly ranked the Firm for its dispute resolution practice, describing us as a "well established firm and a seasoned team of litigators with experience in a broad range of dispute...". Our clients have been quoted as saying that "Mahassni has a great reputation as a litigation firm...Hassan Mahassni is held in high esteem as a stalwart of the Saudi legal market. He offers decades of experience handling all manner of commercial disputes".

The recognition and accolades are not very difficult to reckon, if one considers the outstanding performance of the multi-disciplinary dispute resolution department of the Firm for over last 50 years.

The Firm is known nationally for training highly successful lawyers who have eventually gone on to establish themselves as major players in the Saudi legal industry, with their own law firms. Since few judgments are compiled, and where a clear codification of court procedural guidelines is lacking, a lot of the information put to the service of clients is experience-driven. Also, good command of Shariah is crucial in Saudi Arabia since the constitution and all laws and regulations are subordinated to it. The Firm has several highly experience lawyers who are well versed in various Shariah precepts. In light of their expertise in regulatory and Shariah matters, our lawyers are often asked to act as experts of Saudi Arabian law in international dispute resolution.