About

Dr Zaid Mahayni holds the most senior position in the team at SEDCO Holding, chief legal officer and is supported by three senior attorneys who oversee the department, which consists of three mid-seniority attorneys, two junior attorneys, one paralegal and two corporate secretary staff, two compliance staff and three document management staff. The team has undergone significant restructuring in the past few months, including augmenting the head count on a ‘functional’ basis according to Mahayni, as to increase and diversify the core competencies of the team and thus reduce dependency on external service providers for the needs and requirements of SEDCO Holding. In particular, the team’s Sharia law expertise and knowledge of English and Welsh law as well was expanded by the hiring of two attorneys qualified in these areas respectively as well as Saudi Law and cross border transactions, restructurings and acquisitions. In the past two years the team has worked on a number of high profile transactions including a major investment into a Vox cinema complex in Jeddah, Jordan which involved the increase of the letting area 145,000 square meters.

Also the team obtained positive rulings in a number of high-valued litigations, established a financial literacy initiative called “Riyali” in joint-venture partnership with Saudi Arabian British Bank, opening a new five star hotel through an affiliated company in Jeddah, the Galeria Hotel, and listing SEDCO Capital’s a real estate investment trust fund in the Saudi market. Dr Yasser’s leadership and motivation has been instrumental in the team’s success. He demonstrates these qualities through his rise in the company over the last 20 years from secretary to a Phd holding chief of legal, and he similarly inspires the rest of his team. In particular, Hosam Al Shohtey, heads the Board Secretarial unit within the legal department. His role has increased in difficulty over the past years since the number of companies, meetings, committee numbers have doubled due to stricter corporate governance standards. Al Shohtey has always remained on top of matters and plays a central role in the recommendation and drafting of board-related corporate governance rules. Additionally, Fivos Sarelis, who was hired in 2017 and quickly demonstrated strong legal capabilities, played a central role in the crafting of a high-standard long-term incentive plan for one of our operating companies and for the international restructuring of another one of our companies.