Firm fields lawyers from the US, Saudi Arabia, and London to advise on the massive share offer
Latham & Watkins, along with its associated law firm in Saudi Arabia, acted for the underwriters of the Saudi Aramco IPO.
The IPO on the Tadawul exchange, the largest IPO in history, raised US$25.6bn at a final offer price of US$8.50. The offer also has an over-allotment option, which, if exercised in full, will increase the total offer size to up to US$29.4bn.
Latham said that the total institutional and retail demand for the IPO was US$119bn, or 465% oversubscribed excluding the over-allotment option. The IPO was so massive that White & Case fielded approximately 400 lawyers, or about a fifth of its global team, to advise Aramco.
Latham, which in the past posted the biggest law firm revenue ever, said that it counselled the underwriters on non-Saudi law matters. Its associated firm in Saudi Arabia, The Law Office of Salman M. Al-Sudairi, acted for the underwriters on Saudi law matters, led by principal Salman M. Al-Sudairi. He was supported by associates Abdullah Alsaeed, Homam Khoshaim, Najla Al-Gadi, and Afrah Al-Shuaiby.
The Latham capital markets team was led by New York partners Marc Jaffe and Ian Schuman, Washington, D.C. partner Alex Cohen, London partner Craig Nethercott, Dubai partner Nomaan Raja, and Dubai counsel Basil Al-Jafari. They were supported by London associates Anna Ngo, Johan Dagergard, Jennifer Gascoyne, Sean Meehan and Neha Siddiqui.
Corporate matters were handled by London partners James Inness and Jeremy Green and Houston partner Ryan Maierson. They were assisted by London associates Catherine Hui, Nick Fisher, and Adam Czernikiewicz and Chicago associates Samantha Jackson and Austin Arnett.
London partner Chirag Sanghrajka advised on finance matters. Regulatory matters were managed by London partner Rob Moulton, Washington, D.C. partner Paul Dudek, New York Partner Dana Fleischman, with assistance from London associate Anne Mainwaring.
Brussels partner Sven Völcker with Frankfurt associate Anne Haas worked on antitrust matters. London partner Karl Mah and New York partner Bora Bozkurt, with London associate James Leslie and New York associate Aaron Bernstein, handled tax matters.
