Our UAE Corporate team has advised Aberdeen Investcorp Infrastructure Partners (AIIP), ajoint venture infrastructure platform,on its acquisition of a significant minority stake in the Al Fadhili Housing complex in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
The complex provides essential accommodation for the workforce servicing the Al Fadhili Gas Facility in the Eastern Province of KSA.
This marks a significant milestone as AIIP completes its first acquisition in KSA. The investment aligns with AIIP's focus on sustainable, resilient, cash-generative infrastructure opportunities in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and reflects its approach of partnering with sovereign and corporate champions to deliver long-term value creation.
The transaction was supported by a multi-disciplinary team from across our Energy and Infrastructure sectors. The team was led by Partner Tim Casben and Principal Associate Simon Elliott, with support from Senior Associate Beth Bloor, and projects and Islamic finance expertise from Partners Jonathan Brufal and Imran Mufti respectively. The team also received support on local law matters from Al Ghazzawi & Partners in KSA.
Jonathan Brufal, Co-Head of the Energy, Nuclear, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Sector said: "This acquisition is one of a series of high-profile corporate energy transition deals that have been undertaken by Tim and Simon. It reflects our growing expertise in this space, which remains very much at the core of the Middle East offices' focus on transactions in the Energy Transition, Tech and IP sectors".
Simon Elliott, who leads our Energy and Infrastructure corporate offering in the Middle East, also commented: "We are pleased to have advised AIIP on another landmark investment and their first in KSA. We are seeing an increased volume of deals such as these coming to market, driven by strategic deployment and redeployment of capital and a greater global interest in critical energy transition and related assets investments in the GCC".