About

Shaun Johnson credits his time in private practice with Ashurst (formerly Blake Dawson) in Australia and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as having been instrumental in his later success as an in-house lawyer: ‘Working within law firms not only gave me outstanding training, but it helped me to understand the dynamics of a law firm. So I consistently draw on those experiences to help me take a balanced approach with my own legal advisors today, not only to cultivate relationships but to have the difficult conversations that is sometimes necessary’. Joining ACWA Holding in Saudi Arabia (now Vision Invest) in 2016, Johnson has taken an extremely active involvement in risk management and mitigation, going so far as to ensure specialised training for the board and senior management of the company is undertaken. ‘I have championed a director certification course for our board and senior management at Vision Invest which is being rolled out during 2019 and will conclude with certification of the board and senior management. Given the changing landscape of compliance, corporate and regulatory requirements, I felt our board and senior management needed a refresher to ensure they were not exposed due to any new regulations’, he says. When discussing highlights, Johnson considers that ‘every transaction I have worked on for Vision Invest is important’, but picks out some particularly special events. ‘We are currently working with our joint venture partner and Saudi Aramco on a transaction to develop a number of industrial gas plants across the MENA region to capture gases such as helium, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, oxygen and argon for sale into the global market. Also, our aviation subsidiary is in a joint venture with Saudia Airlines to operate their cargo business, which focusses on their domestic and international freight’, he says. Nominating sources were extremely complimentary about Johnson’s skills too: ‘Vision Invest has been at the forefront of the booming Saudi Arabian growth market, with Johnson assisting both Vision Invest and its various subsidiaries in navigating the legal challenges presented by many first-in-country transactions. Calm, reliable and seasoned, Johnson is a quality general counsel with an open-minded, fair approach to instructing external counsel, and he brings a level of sophistication that is relatively uncommon among in-house counsel in the Kingdom’.