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AS&H in co-operation with Clifford Chance acts as issuer's counsel to Power and Water Utility Company for Jubail and Yanbu (Marafiq) on its US$ 897 million IPO and US$3.1 billion listing on Tadawul

Abuhimed Alsheikh Alhagbani Law Firm (AS&H) in co-operation with Clifford Chance has acted as issuer’s counsel to Power and Water Utility Company for Jubail and Yanbu (Marafiq) on its SAR 3.36 billion (US$ 897 million) IPO and SAR 11.5 billion (US$ 3.1 billion) listing on the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul). Marafiq is an integrated utilities services provider with presence across the power and water value-chain. Together with its various subsidiaries, Marafiq is responsible for providing utilities services in strategic industrial cities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, and is expanding its presence across the Kingdom. Its core business is focused on the supply of power, water and gas.

The IPO was conducted in accordance with Regulation S under the US Securities Act and took place by way of a fully secondary sale by the existing major shareholders, the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RC), the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), the Saudi Aramco Power Company (SAPCO) (a wholy owned subsidiary of Saudi Aramco) and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) whereby 73,094,500 shares (comprising 29.24% of the total share capital of Marafiq) were sold to the public.

The institutional investor tranche, which was marketed domestically and internationally under Regulation-S, accounted for 90% of the IPO. The IPO book-building process generated an order book of SAR 197 billion (US$ 52.5 billion) and resulted in a subscription of coverage of 59x of the total offered shares.

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

The AS&H team was led by Partners Mansoor Alhagbani and Omar Rashid. Rakan Kawar (Senior Associate) was the lead associate and supported by Senior Associate Mohammed Al-Esheikh and Associates Haifa AlDamegh, Ribal Wahid, Mohammed Ghazzawi, Abdullah Alhumaidan, Aljoahra BinAhmed, Alia Al-Kadi and Abdulaziz Al-Mubarak.

The Clifford Chance team was led by Frankfurt-based US Securities Partner George Hacket who was supported by Counsel Axel Wittmann (Munich) and Associate Lucy Liu (Frankfurt).

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 some of the most notable equity capital markets transactions in the Kingdom, including advising Saudi Tadawul Group on its IPO, ACWA Power on its IPO, PIF on the $3.2 billion sale of a 6% stake in stc by way of a secondary public offering in a first of its kind deal in Saudi Arabia, 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).