Saudi Arabia cooperation agreement ended by Allen & Overy and Khoshaim & Associates

Saudi Arabia cooperation agreement ended by Allen & Overy and Khoshaim & Associates

The cooperation agreement has been ended by Allen & Overy (A&O) and its Saudi Arabian partner Khoshaim & Associates. Both parties stressed the advantages of working with a wider range of law firms.

It was in 2012 that the exclusive deal was sealed with the relationship being marketed by A&O through joint announcements and its website. On 9 October, the same was silently dropped but both sides said they would continue to work closely going forward.

An A&O statement read: "We have seen an increase in the volume and range of matters for which clients are seeking support in Saudi Arabia. In order to increase our capacity to meet this demand, we have taken the decision to work with a broader range of law firms in the kingdom."

"This joint decision serves each firm's strategic interests. For K&A, it allows us to be independent and work with other firms, including US-based firms. This opens up opportunities to work on a wider set of matters and service clients from the US, amongst other jurisdictions with strong ties to Saudi Arabia," said K&A managing partner Zeyad Khoshaim.

Riyadh-based K&A has around 35 lawyers, three counsel and four partners and is highly rated in the Chambers and Partners directory with a Band 1 individual rating given to Khoshaim. Having originally joined A&O as a partner in 2010, Khoshaim said it had now evolved into a full-service firm with an expanded partnership and an office opened in Jeddah.

A lot of US companies were interested in Vision 2030 to branch out Saudi Arabia's economy into areas other than oil. According to Khoshaim, this "put the firm in a good position to advise US-based companies like AMC and Johns Hopkins University on their investments, and collaborate with other firms with specialized expertise on mega deals like Saudi Aramco's acquisition of SABIC, Saudi Aramco's IPO, and the SAMBA/NCB merger."

With regional offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, A&O said, "As one of the law firms with the longest established presences in the Middle East, we remain committed to the region and we believe this decision will best serve our clients in Saudi Arabia and around the world in the longer term."

The two firms in August collaborated on two big deals for the Saudi Electricity Company; a $1.3bn dual-tranche green sukuk and a $2.4bn syndicated murabaha facility agreement provided by a Saudi banks' syndicate.