Riyadh Banking and Finance Practice Gets a Boost with Ahmed Choudhry Joining Clifford Chance and AS&H
Clifford Chance and AS&H, a legal conglomerate based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, have welcomed Ahmed Choudhry as Counsel
Riyadh Banking and Finance Practice Gets a Boost with Ahmed Choudhry Joining Clifford Chance and AS&H Clifford Chance and AS&H, a legal conglomerate based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, have welcomed Ahmed Choudhry as Counsel to their banking and finance practice in Riyadh. Ahmed recently moved from Clifford Chance's Dubai office, where he had been located since 2017, to join the...
Riyadh Banking and Finance Practice Gets a Boost with Ahmed Choudhry Joining Clifford Chance and AS&H
Clifford Chance and AS&H, a legal conglomerate based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, have welcomed Ahmed Choudhry as Counsel to their banking and finance practice in Riyadh. Ahmed recently moved from Clifford Chance's Dubai office, where he had been located since 2017, to join the team in Riyadh.
Having worked in this field for 14 years, Ahmed brings extensive experience and knowledge gained from advising on banking and finance transactions across various countries, including the UK, Oman, and the UAE. He specialises in complex Islamic finance transactions. His on-the-ground expertise will add significant value to the Riyadh team.
Ahmed has advised on several notable transactions in Saudi Arabia, including representing HSBC as a lender in the refinancing of Arabian Centres Company's existing facilities through Ijara and Murabaha-based finance facilities.
He has also worked with Saudi Telecom Company on the establishment of its US $5 billion sukuk programme and debt issuance of US $1.25 billion, and with Shomoul Mall Commercial Company as Sponsor on the project financing for The Avenues Mall in Riyadh, which utilised an Islamic construction (Istisn’a/Forward Ijara) structure.
Additionally, Ahmed advised Saudi Electricity Company on the conversion of the company’s financial government liabilities into a SAR 167.92 billion (approximately US $45 billion) Shari’a-compliant subordinated financial equity-like instrument.
Following the recent announcement by Clifford Chance and AS&H, their existing cooperation arrangement will be restructured into a joint venture named AS&H Clifford Chance, which will be effective from May 1, 2023.
Ahmed's addition to the Riyadh team comes in the wake of this development. The new combined structure will strengthen its position in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East and improve its capacity to provide support to regional and international clients.
Dr Fahad, the managing partner of AS&H Clifford Chance, expressed his delight in welcoming Ahmed to the Riyadh team.
“His arrival demonstrates our continued growth and commitment to our Saudi Arabian clients as the Kingdom looks to become a regional and global ecosystem for both Islamic and conventional finance,” Dr Fahad said.
Guy Norman, former Global Head of Clifford Chance’s corporate practice and new senior Clifford Chance partner of AS&H Clifford Chance termed Ahmed’s addition to the team as an important step in the expansion of the firm’s integrated offering in the KSA through the new joint venture arrangement with AS&H.
“Saudi Arabia is an important growth market for us and we look forward to continuing to invest in our presence and senior lawyer bench in Riyadh in the coming years,” Guy Norman said.
AS&H and Clifford Chance are recognised for their expertise in banking and finance, Islamic finance, and capital markets transactions in the Middle East. They have won 18 deal and team awards in 2022, including Banking Legal Adviser of the Year at the Bonds, Loans & Sukuk Middle East Awards. They are consistently ranked in Band 1 for banking and finance, capital markets, and project finance in legal directories such as The Legal 500, Chambers, and IFLR 1000.