White & Case fields a fifth of its lawyers for Aramco IPO

The firm says about 400 of its lawyers worked on the massive IPO

White & Case fields a fifth of its lawyers for Aramco IPO

A global firm, which has a headcount of more than 2,100, had a fifth of its lawyers work on the massive Saudi Aramco IPO.

White & Case partner Inigo Esteve said that about 400 of the firm’s lawyers from 20 of its offices advised Aramco on what has become the world’s largest IPO. The oil company raised US$25.6bn for a valuation of US$1.7 trillion and since its debut on Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul Stock Exchange, briefly reached a market capitalisation of US$2 trillion.

White & Case partner Clark Wohlferd said that the firm is “extremely honoured and privileged” to have played a role in the world’s largest IPO. The firm has been advising Aramco for nearly 70 years.

White & Case advised Aramco along with its alliance partner in Saudi Arabia, The Law Office of Megren M. Al-Shaalan.

The White & Case team was led by:

  • Capital markets partners: Sami Al-Louzi (Dubai), Colin Diamond and Gary Kashar (New York), and Inigo Esteve (London)
  • Corporate partners: Wendell Maddrey, Ivan Paskal and Clark Wohlferd (New York)
  • Litigation partners: Carolyn Lamm, Hansel Pham (Washington, DC) and Owen Pell (New York)

The Law Office of Megren M. Al-Shaalan team was led by partners Megren Al-Shaalan and Doug Peel (Riyadh).

The team also included White & Case tax partner Andrew Kreisberg (New York), as well as international trade partner William Clinton and lawyers Scott Lincicome (Washington, DC) and Richard King (Dubai).

Capital markets lawyers Caitlin Colesanti, Joseph Kalis, Yana Shneyderman, Eric Victorson and Taryn Zucker (New York), Ibrahim Soumrany (London) and Roger Gaspard (Dubai) also worked on the deal.

Corporate partner Raymond Azar and lawyers Peter Dagher (New York), as well as Cristian Blumm and James Langlois (Houston) were also part of the team.

Litigation lawyers Karthik Nagarajan, Paul Pittman, Alvaro Peralta and Vivake Prasad (Washington, DC) also advised, while employee compensation and benefits partner Henrik Patel and lawyer Harry Hudesman (New York) also worked on the deal.

From The Law Office of Megren M. Al-Shaalan, corporate attorneys Khalid Al-Gublan, Nasser Al-Khamis, Joza Al-Rasheed, Reem Albakr, Waad Alkurini, and Husam Azhar (Riyadh) also advised on the deal.

Support also came from White & Case capital markets partners Dov Gottlieb, and David Johansen, and lawyers Scott Levi, Jesany Michel and Kate Warrick (New York), Ahmed Bekheit, Tarek Kfoury (Cairo) and Alexander Underwood (London). Corporate lawyers Alexander Abedine, Hamad Al-Hoshan and Joe Babitz (New York), and Catherine Tsang and Terence Mak (Hong Kong) also advised.

Environmental partner Seth Kerschner and lawyer Laura Mulry (New York) also supported the deal. From the litigation team, partners Scott Hershman and Robert Milne (New York) and lawyers Jacob Bachmaier, Nicolle Kownacki, Frank Panopoulos, Scott Phillips, Raquel Sloan (Washington, DC), Ronan O'Reilly (London), Ashley Chase, Jacqueline Chung and Dominique Forrest (New York) advised on the deal.

Support also came from tax lawyer John Lillis (New York); employment compensation and benefits lawyers Lewis Calder, Jack Gardener (London); Kenneth Barr and Scott Schilson (New York), and IP partner Jean Shimotake.