PIF will own a 25% stake in EEC as a result of the transaction, after the sovereign wealth fund took over debt in the company previously held by the Ministry of Finance that was then converted to ordinary shares. The deal will also make PIF the largest shareholder in EEC.

EEC is affiliated with Emaar Real Estate Development Company based in Dubai and is working on the development of King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia.

The AS&H team in Riyadh was jointly led by Partners Mansoor Alhagbani and Omar Rashid with Partner Yasser Al-Hussain advising on certain aspects of the transaction. The team included Christian Both (Counsel), Abdulkhaliq ElShayyal (Senior Associate) and Noura Abdulrahman and Haya Al-Rowaita (both Associates).

AS&H and Clifford Chance have a strong track record of advising on some of the largest, most innovative and most complex deals in the Middle East. Together, the firms recently advised on Saudi Electricity Company’s US$45 billion Shari'a compliant subordinated perpetual financial equity-like instrument as part of Saudi Arabia’s wider electricity reforms; the US$200 million acquisition of three flour mills in Saudi Arabia as part of Saudi Arabia’s privatisation drive; and National Commercial Bank on its merger with Samba Financial Group, creating the largest bank in Saudi Arabia.