ASAR - Al Ruwayeh & Partners

Banking & Finance; Capital Markets & Securities; Corporate; Mergers & Acquisitions; PPP & PFI Projects; Restructuring & Insolvency

Counsel

Rob regularly practices in the area of banking and finance, capital markets and securities (including OTC derivatives and repos), M&A, public private partnerships, restructuring and insolvency, and general corporate matters. He has an extensive track record in advising in this area with more than 20 years of experience in Kuwait. Rob regularly advises both local and international banks and borrowers, well as corporate clients large and small, on domestic and cross-border transactions.

Professional Experience

Equate USD6-billion facility agreement: Rob acted as Kuwaiti law counsel to the arrangers and the agent with respect to a USD6-billion loan facility to Equate Petrochemical Company KSCC, more than half of which will be used to pay for its acquisition of petrochemical company ME Global from Dow Chemical. The arrangers for the loan were Citibank, NA, HSBC Bank plc, JP Morgan Limited, Kuwait Finance House KSCP and National Bank of Kuwait SAKP. The facilities comprise two conventional term loan facilities and one Shari’a-compliant commodity murabaha facility. The transaction was one of the largest corporate acquisition financings arranged in the Middle East in the past few years. Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) USD2.5-billion EMTN Programme: Rob acted as Kuwait counsel to GIC in connection with the first ever Kuwait EMTN Programme. Rob continues to act as Kuwait legal counsel for a variety of Kuwait established bond and sukuk programs, some of which have been nominated for IFLR Debt and Equity deals of the year. Acquisition of Kuwait Energy plc: Rob acted as counsel to the vendor with regard to the sale of Kuwait Energy plc by way of a Jersey scheme of arrangement, whereby a purchaser listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange acquired the entire issued share capital of Kuwait Energy plc. The deal value was USD477,285,000. This transaction was nominated for M&A deal of the year at the 2019 IFLR awards. Adeem Investment and Wealth Management restructuring: Rob acted as Kuwaiti counsel to the creditors on the restructuring of a USD437-million facility which involved multi-jurisdictional elements. The deal involved a bespoke restructuring of the conventional and Shari’a-compliant financing arrangements provided to certain subsidiaries of Adeem. This transaction won the prestigious IFLR Restructuring Deal of the Year Award for 2017. Rob has also acted for various other restructurings valued well over USD4-billion, including The Investment Dar (50% owner of Aston Martin), Global Investment House, and Aayan Investment Company.

English

Non practicing member of the Law Society of Saskatchewan, 1993

Juris Doctor, University of Saskatchewan, Canada, 1991