Clifford Chance, in conjunction with Al-Jadaan & Partners Law Firm, recently advised Almarai Company, the world's largest integrated dairy company in connection with its bid to acquire the entire issued share capital of Hail Agriculture Development Company (HADCo), a food company listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange.
Almarai's cash and share bid values HADCo's share capital at SAR 949.5 million (equivalent to approximately US$250 million).*
This is the first ever takeover bid for a public listed company in Saudi Arabia and is a significant mandate for the firm. It also further demonstrates the firm's existing regional public M&A capability and growing expertise.
The Clifford Chance team was led by Dubai partner Mike Taylor and senior associate Mo Al-Shukairy, with assistance from Anna Davies and Alex Drysdale. The Al-Jadaan team was led by partners Mohammed Al-Jadaan and Abdullah Al-Hashim with assistance from senior associate Peter Stansfield.
Morgan Stanley Saudi Arabia acted as Almarai's financial adviser.
* As at 30 June 2009.
Clifford Chance is one of the world's leading law firms, helping clients achieve their goals by combining the highest global standards with local expertise. The firm has unrivalled scale and depth of legal resources across the four key markets of the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, and focuses on the core areas of commercial activity: capital markets; corporate and M&A; finance and banking; real estate; tax; pensions and employment; litigation and dispute resolution. Clifford Chance has 29 offices in 20 countries and also operates a 'best friends' arrangement with AZB & Partners in India and a co-operation agreement with Al-Jadaan & Partners Law Firm in Saudi Arabia.
The corporate practice, which comprises 820 legal advisers worldwide, handles some of the world's largest and most complex M&A transactions. The practice combines global transaction capability with a full service of English, US and civil law expertise in the key financial centres across Europe, the Americas and Asia. In addition to mainstream M&A, the firm also encompasses leading specialist practices in: commercial contracts, competition and antitrust, communications, energy, healthcare, financial institutions, funds, investment banking, insurance, media and technology, and private equity.
The practice focuses on providing practical and commercial legal advice. Clients include investment banks and financial institutions, multinationals and other public and private corporations, private equity providers and management teams, asset management clients, international partnerships and governments.
Clifford Chance was ranked 'tier one' in more international tables than any other firm in the Chambers Global 2009 Directory. This independent analysis focuses on firms' legal ability, professional conduct, client service, and commercial awareness, and these rankings provide outstanding recognition for the Firm's breadth of expertise and consistency of quality across global markets.
Clifford Chance was named 'Most Innovative Law Firm' in the 2008 Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards, an in-depth Europe-wide analysis of innovation in law firms in areas from legal expertise to client service, marketing, environment and technology.
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For further information about Clifford Chance see www.cliffordchance.com
For further information about this release contact
Michael Osborne on +44 (0)20 7006
michael.osborne@cliffordchance.com
Melanie Carruthers on +971 4 362 0623
melanie.carruthers@cliffordchance.com
© Press Release 2009
