Abdullah Al-Hoqail

Types of matters handled

• Advises boards, chairpersons, managing directors and senior leadership teams on corporate strategy, governance and legal risk.
• Structures and implements operating models, business cases and legal frameworks for large-scale organizations and flagship projects.
• Negotiates complex commercial agreements, including construction, design, project management, consultancy, technology, licensing and strategic partnership arrangements.
• Advises on privatizations, joint ventures, acquisitions, capital increases, share swaps and cross-border investments.
• Represents sovereign entities, regulators and government-related bodies on laws, implementing regulations, internal rules and major policy initiatives.
• Advises issuers, arrangers, lenders and government borrowers on bond offerings, sukuk, trust certificate programs, syndicated facilities and project financings.
• Manages complex dispute strategy and settlement negotiations.

Previous experience includes

Executive leadership, governance and institutional build-out

• Served as a senior legal and strategic adviser to the leadership of a major Saudi giga-project and its group companies, helping shape restructuring, growth strategy, operating models and long-term business planning.
• Built and led legal and governance frameworks for high-growth organizations, including establishing legal teams, supporting senior leadership recruitment and embedding decision-making and oversight processes.
• Acted as principal counsel to senior executives and board-level stakeholders on corporate, commercial and strategic matters. Commercial, technology and strategic partnerships
• Led negotiations for high-profile intellectual property and brand partnerships involving global entertainment, media and consumer companies, including arrangements with AMC, Warner Bros. Discovery, Hasbro, Formula E and Mattel.
• Developed and implemented suites of standard form agreements for construction, design, project management and consultancy work across large development programs.
• Negotiated and structured high-value technology agreements relating to digital platforms, ticketing systems and lease management solutions.

Regulatory and public policy experience 

• Advised the Public Investment Fund on new laws, regulatory initiatives and major national development projects, including NEOM and the Red Sea Project.
• Assisted The Royal Commission for Al-Ula and the National Center for Privatization & PPP with implementing laws, internal rules and regulatory frameworks.
• Advised the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Economy & Planning on project structuring, institutional set-up and policy-related initiatives.
• Advised the Capital Market Authority and Tadawul on regulatory initiatives, including merger and acquisition regulations.
• Advised the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) on the establishment of the SADAD online payment system.
• Advised the Ministry of Commerce & Industry on insolvency law reform.
• Supported international financial institution work on legal and regulatory issues, including Islamic finance analysis and trade finance transactions. 

Corporate, M&A and privatization 

• Advised on privatization mandates involving key Saudi infrastructure assets, including Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport and certain port assets and services.
• Advised on joint ventures and strategic market entry arrangements, including duty free and luxury retail concessions at major Saudi airports.
• Advised on cross-border acquisitions and investment transactions for public and private sector clients.
• Advised the Public Investment Fund on strategic investments and institutional establishment projects, including the Saudi Real Estate Mortgage Refinance Company.
• Advised listed and private companies on capital increases, share swaps and acquisition structures.

Finance and capital markets 

• Advised the Government of Saudi Arabia on the establishment of its GMTN program, debut sovereign bond issuance, trust certificate issuance program and landmark sukuk transactions.
• Advised on sovereign and quasi-sovereign financing matters, including multi-billion dollar commercial lender facilities and financing for the Public Investment Fund.
• Represented issuers, arrangers and lenders on conventional and Islamic capital markets transactions, including bond offerings, subordinated sukuk, floating rate notes and public sukuk issuances.
• Advised creditors and financial institutions on high-value restructurings, insolvency-related claims and complex lending exposures.
• Advised on project finance, real estate finance, murabaha facilities and limited recourse financings for major hospitality, mixed-use and infrastructure developments.
• Represented a syndicate of international and Saudi banks on a USD 10 billion revolving facility for Saudi Aramco.