Renad Younes

Renad Younes is partner in charge of the Abu Dhabi office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. She is a member of the Projects and Infrastructure and Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Groups.

Renad advises corporations, financial institutions and governments on local and international M&A transactions and projects that cover energy, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, defense, space and strategic government matters and policy. She leads her clients through complex M&A processes, as well as greenfield project development in such sectors. From Gibson Dunn’s office in Abu Dhabi, Renad routinely advises her clients on outbound investments into Europe and the USA.  

Renad’s deep sector and industry knowledge and combination of M&A and project development experience enables her to also frequently advise on complex large scale agenda setting projects that are followed by IPOs, equity offerings and debt offerings where her industry knowledge is applied to structure the relevant assets to achieve successful and strategic capital raisings. Known for her innovation and solution-oriented approach in the infrastructure and energy sector, she also has an extensive track record assisting clients in setting up innovative projects and legal structures, including market facing energy trading companies, artificial intelligence, energy and infrastructure projects.

Renad is listed and top ranked by Chambers and The Legal 500 in both M&A and energy categories, and is listed in the “Hall of Fame” for UAE Oil, Gas and Natural Resources by The Legal 500 EMEA. She was named on IFLR 1000’s Women Leaders list of “highly regarded” lawyers worldwide.

Renad is admitted to practice in England and Wales, and is a Solicitor for the Supreme Court of England and Wales.

Representative Experience*

• KKR on its strategic partnership with Gulf Data Hub (GDH) to scale one of the Middle East’s largest independent data center platforms. Upon completion, KKR and GDH have committed to support over $5 billion of total investment.
• Sovereign-owned Gulf entity on its participation in a consortium in relation to Brookfield Asset Management’s $2.8 billion acquisition of Network International Holdings, a UAE digital payments solutions company listed on the London Stock Exchange.
• ADNOC on its joint venture with bp for a strategic partnership in Egyptian gas assets, including the contribution by bp to the JV of its interests in the Shorouk, North Damietta, North El Burg, North El Tabya, Bellatrix-Seti East and North El Fayrouz concessions in Egypt.
• ADNOC on a Global Medium Term Note program (debt offering) for ADNOC Murban RSC, a wholly-owned ADNOC subsidiary.
• The Sovereign Fund of Egypt in relation to the development and procurement of 9 green hydrogen projects in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) at a total investment cost of $83 billion.
• ADNOC on the acquisition of a 25% shareholding in Borealis AG from Mubadala Investment Company.
• ADNOC and Borealis on the carve out and projects elements of their successful Borouge IPO in ADX which valued the company at $20.05 billion and was 74 times oversubscribed.
• Confidential investor on its successful acquisition of an interest in the Aramco $12.6 billion pipeline transaction.
• NEOM Company, Saudi Arabia’s new city gigaproject development company, on a $ 8 .5 billion green energy joint venture with ACWA Power and Air Products that will incorporate the region’s largest wind and solar renewables production projects (4GW in total), as well as a ground-breaking green hydrogen / green ammonia export project.
• Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and its subsidiary, Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer) (trading as ADNOC Refining), a joint venture company between ADNOC, Italy’s Eni and Austria’s OMV, on the sale of ADNOC Refining’s waste management operations in Al Ruways Industrial City, Abu Dhabi, to a consortium comprising Veolia, Vision Invest and ADQ. This was recognized as the M&A Deal of the Year at the Bonds, Loans & Sukuk Middle East Awards 2023.
• ADNOC on $4 billion investment agreements between Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company RSC Ltd (Ta’ziz) and multiple UAE-based investors, marking the first domestic Public Private Partnership (PPP) in Abu Dhabi’s downstream and petrochemicals sector.
• Chevron on the Wafra field based in the Neutral Zone on the Saudi-Kuwait border.
• Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Company (Dussur), as part of an international private equity consortium also consisting of BroadPeak Global LP and Asia Green Fund, in connection with the acquisition of the Clean Technologies business of DuPont de Nemours, Inc. for $510 million in cash.
• OMV on the $1.5 billion acquisition of a 20% interest in upstream fields in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
• ADNOC on the award of exploration rights for Abu Dhabi Onshore Block 5 to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corporation.
• ADNOC on the establishment and launch of its crude oil trading unit: ADNOC Trading, based in ADGM. The launch of the trading unit represents the next step in ADNOC’s expansion of its global presence as it takes steps to increase value through its trading activities.
• ADNOC on the disposal of an interest in ADNOC Refining to Eni and OMV where the company was valued at c. $19 billion, including the associated carve out process, the auction process and setting up the trading entity.
• Kuwait Petroleum International on acquiring a fifty percent (50%) interest in the $6 billion Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Company in Oman from Oman Oil.
• Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait on the development of a greenfield PDH facility jointly with Pembina Corporation in Alberta Canada valued at c. $4 billion.
• OMV on the acquisition of 75% stake in four Exploration and Production Sharing Agreements in Sirte Basin, Libya.
• Mitsui Middle East E&P on the award of the Block 9 exploration and production agreement in Oman.
• Mitsui Middle East E&P on the acquisition of the Western Desert upstream interests in Egypt.
• A confidential client on the acquisition of a participating interest in an offshore field in Turkmenistan valued at $4 billion.
• Gunvor on its acquisition of a ten percent (10%) interest in the TAL pipeline through a share acquisition in the three German, Austrian and Italian companies that own and operate the TAL pipeline.
• The National Oil Corporation of Libya in relation to its joint venture with TRASTA for the upgrade of the refinery at Ras Lanuf.
• The National Oil Corporation of Libya in relation to its joint venture with Yara International for the upgrade of the fertilizer plants in Mersa El Brega.
• Lithuania’s state-owned oil company on the LNG Floating Storage and Regasification Unit in port of Klaipeda.
• Angola LNG Limited on its entry into LNG Master Sale and Purchase Agreement with multiple offtakers.
• Centrica on its entry into a three-year $2 billion LNG SPA with Qatar Gas.

Capabilities

• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Artificial Intelligence
• Energy Regulation and Litigation
• Energy and Infrastructure
• Finance
• Infrastructure
• Oil and Gas
• Projects

Credentials

Education:

• London School of Economics & Political Science - 2004 Master of Laws (LL.M.)
• University of Jerusalem - 2002 Bachelor of Science
• University of Jerusalem - 2002 Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.)

Admissions:

• England & Wales - Solicitor