Renad Younes is partner in charge of the Abu Dhabi office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and co-chair of the firm’s Oil and Gas Practice Group. 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 a wide range of sectors, including energy, infrastructure and strategic government matters. She leads her clients through complex M&A processes, as well as energy and infrastructure greenfield project development, in the renewables, transitional energy, upstream, midstream, downstream and LNG sectors.
Renad’s deep sector and industry knowledge and combination of M&A and project development experience enables her to also frequently advise on complex carve-outs that are followed by IPOs, equity offerings and debt offerings where her industry knowledge is applied to structure the relevant assets and interests to achieve successful and strategic capital raisings. Known for her innovation and solution-oriented approach in the energy sector, she also has an extensive track record assisting clients in setting up innovative and agenda setting projects and legal structures, including market facing trading companies and first in kind transitional energy companies.
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 received her LLM in Public International Law from the London School of Economics. Prior to that, she received her LLB and her BSc in Science and Biology from the University of Jerusalem. Her primary languages are Arabic and English. Renad regularly writes and speaks on topics relating to energy, transitional energy and infrastructure, and is also an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.
Renad is admitted to practice in England and Wales, and is a Solicitor for the Supreme Court of England and Wales.
Representative Experience*
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Advised on the establishment of International Centre for Culinary Arts in Abu Dhabi and the associated operating agreements.
- 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.
- Sovereign-owned Gulf entity on the acquisition of a majority stake in a leading international player in the production, research and development, marketing, export and distribution of high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables.
- ADNOC on the acquisition of a 25% shareholding in Borealis AG from Mubadala Investment Company.
- 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.
- 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.
- ADNOC on its joint venture with Reliance Industries Limited for the joint construction and development of an integrated Chlor-Alkali and Ethylene di Chloride facility in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
- ADNOC on a strategic partnership of the $6.2 billion investment agreement between ADNOC and Borealis AG to build the fourth Borouge facility – Borouge 4 – at the polyolefin manufacturing complex in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
- 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.
- A GCC based health company on a joint venture with a multinational supply chain company for the supply and distribution of medical equipment and pharmaceutical products.
- 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 its joint venture with ADQ to create a new investment platform to fund and oversee the development of chemicals industrial projects within the planned Ruwais Derivatives Park.
- 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.
- Chevron on the Wafra field based in the Neutral Zone on the Saudi-Kuwait border.
- 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 $1.5 billion acquisition of a 20% interest in upstream fields in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
- 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 UK listed company on its Kurdistan upstream production sharing agreement.
- Serinus Energy Inc. on the sale of its 5 upstream assets in Ukraine to Resano Trading.
- An international energy company on a takeover of a European listed company with upstream assets in the Middle East and Europe.
- A confidential client on the acquisition of a participating interest in an offshore field in Turkmenistan valued at $4 billion.
- A UK upstream company on the acquisition of an interest in the Arran field in the UKCS.
- Ras Al Khaimah Government and RAKGas LLC on its entry into a concession with Dahan Petroleum Ltd. and Rak Petroleum Limited.
- Dana Gas on the unitization and operations agreement in relation to the Zora offshore field straddling the borders of Sharjah and Ajman, UAE.
- ChemaWeyaat on the proposed development and incorporation of the $10 billion aromatics plant in Madinat ChemaWEyaat in Abu Dhabi.
- 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.
- A confidential client on the proposed acquisition of downstream assets from a chemicals company in Texas, US.
- A downstream international company on a proposed acquisition of an interest in the $20 billion OMPL and OPaL aromatics and olefins downstream plants in India.
- A European energy company on the proposed sale of a refinery in Switzerland.
- A bidder on the proposed acquisition of an interest of the downstream business of United Petroleum in Australia comprising 300 petrol stations, one ethanol refinery and 3 storage terminals.
- 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 counterparties.
- Centrica on its entry into a three year $2 billion LNG SPA with Qatar Gas.
- The lenders to a bidding consortium on the Bahrain LNG project.
- An international energy company on the proposed disposal of its interest in a LNG liquefaction plant in the Middle East valued at $2 billion.
- A GCC national oil company on a LNG master sale and purchase agreement with Qatar Gas.
- Shell and the Iraqi Ministry of Oil on the development of the South Gas and LNG joint venture project.
*Includes representations prior to Renad’s association with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
Capabilities
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- 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