Leen Zaza
Partner
Riyadh
leen.zaza@lw.com
+966.11.207.2510
PRACTICES
- Corporate Governance
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Private Equity
- Real Estate
- Saudi Arabia Practice
INDUSTRIES
- Energy & Infrastructure
- Healthcare & Life Sciences
- Retail & Consumer Products
EDUCATION
- LLM, University of Bristol, 2012
- LLB, University of Bristol, 2011
LANGUAGES SPOKEN
PROFILE
Leen Zaza advises on a wide range of corporate and commercial transactions in the Middle East and internationally.
Leen draws on extensive experience across multiple industries — including energy and infrastructure, heavy machineries, shipping, petrochemicals, education, e-commerce, healthcare, and technology — to counsel clients on:
- M&A
- Venture capital and private equity
- Joint ventures
- Corporate governance, regulatory, and advisory matters
- Saudi law
Before joining Latham, she was a partner at a Saudi firm.
EXPERIENCE
Leen’s experience includes advising:
M&A
- ACWA Power on a private placement of primary equity shares to Sanabil and Saudi PPA*
- Deutsche Bank on selling shares in Deutsche Gulf Finance*
- GlaxoSmithKline on acquiring shares in Glaxo Saudi Arabia Limited*
- Infinigate Group acquiring StarLink*
- Iron Mountain, a US-based information management specialist entity, on acquiring InfoFort, the leading records and information management entity in the MENA region, from Aramex*
- Kingdom Investment and Development Company on its share swap with Dallah Healthcare Company*
- Levant Capital on a joint US$100 million acquisition with Citi Venture Capital International of a controlling stake in Al-Raya For Foodstuff Company, a leading supermarket chain in Saudi Arabia*
- Outotec Oyj on acquiring the Australian aluminum capital expenditure business of Kempe Engineering Pty Ltd and its subsidiaries incorporated in Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Mozambique*
- Rexam on its US$122 million acquisition of a 51% stake in Saudi Arabia’s United Arab Can Manufacturing, a supplier to Coca-Cola*
- Samba Financial Group on its statutory merger with the National Commercial Bank*
- SABIC on its sale of shares with Vopak in Jubail Chemical Storage and Services*
- Saudi Information Technology Company (SITE) on acquiring shares in a tech company*
- Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) on its US$5.7 billion merger with Sahara Petrochemicals Company*
- Souq Group Ltd. and certain of its shareholders on selling the entire issued share capital of Souq (the largest e-commerce vendor in the MENA region) to Amazon.com*
- Sunbulah Group on a sale and leasback transaction in Saudi Arabia*
- Tenaris Saudi Steel Pipes on an acquisition of shares in GPC*
Venture Capital and Private Equity
- DUSSUR on its acquisition of shares in Baker Petrolite Saudi Company Limited from Baker Hughes*
- Prosus N.V., a Dutch multinational conglomerate, on its Series C Investment into Foodics*
- Sanabil on its:
- US$40 million Series A investment in Classera, US-based education technology startup*
- Acquisition of shares in Richard Attias & Associates*
- Divestment of shares in Virgin Mobile Saudi Consortium to Priora*
- Series B investment in Saudi fintech startup Tamara as part of a US$100 million funding round with participation from Coatue, Shorooq Partners, and Endeavor Catalyst*
- Series B investment in Unifonic as part of a US$125 million funding round alongside Softbank*
- Series C investment into Sary, a B2B marketplace as part of a US$75 million funding round led by Sanabil*
- Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Center (Wa’ed) on its:
- Investment into Red Sea Farms*
- Investment into YNMO*
- Investment into White Helmet*
- Investment into Forus*
- Investment into Golden Scent*
- Investment into Noon Education*
- Series A investment in Bonat Holding Ltd*
- Sila Development Company (SHIFT) on a sale and an acquisition of shares by Merak Capital*
Joint Ventures
- American Multi-Cinema on its joint venture with the Development and Investment Entertainment Company*
- Arabian Tires on its joint venture with DEKRA in the automobile sector*
- Dussur on its joint venture with Baker Hughes, to provide oilfield and industrial chemical products and services in Saudi Arabia*
- Fresenius Medical Care Saudi Arabia on joint venture arrangements in the Saudi healthcare sector*
- Greif International on its joint venture with Petrolube Oil Company*
- Hyatt International on its development and operations and maintenance agreements with Diriyah Gate Development Authority*
- Johns Hopkins International, the international arm of Johns Hopkins Medicine, on a joint venture with Saudi Aramco to establish a new healthcare provider for Saudi Aramco, the first American-owned healthcare facility in Saudi Arabia*
- Sahara International Petrochemical Company on its joint venture with Linde*
- Sanabil on its joint venture with Robertet in the agricultural sector*
- Saudi Public Transport Company and RATP Development S.A. on establishing and operating the Riyadh Bus Project, a greenfield development of a network of 1,000 buses on 22 lines around Riyadh capable of transporting 900,000 passengers per day*
- Sunbulah Group on a joint venture in the food and beverage sector*
Corporate Governance, Regulatory, and Advisory
- Delivery Hero SE on various corporate and antitrust matters*
- KAPSARC on a corporate and regulatory restructuring project*
- Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries & Medical Appliances Corporation (SPIMACO) on its corporate restructuring*
- Saudi Sports Company and the Saudi Professional League on various corporate and regulatory matters*
- Tenaris Saudi Steel Pipes and Global Pipe Company on various corporate, regulatory, and antitrust matters*
- Trendyol on various corporate and regulatory matters*
*Matter handled prior to joining Latham