Saudi Wealth Fund Leans on Law Firms That Made Deals With Trump

Saudi Arabia will look to make good on its $1 trillion US investment pledge through a sovereign wealth fund, which has developed close ties to law firms that recently entered into settlements with President Donald Trump.

The Public Investment Fund is among Latham & Watkins’ five largest clients, generating between $70 million and $100 million in annual revenue in recent years, according to two people familiar with the firm’s business. A&O Shearman lawyers also have been frequent advisers to the $940 billion fund, which is central to the Gulf State’s vision of a flourishing and diversified post-oil economy, while Kirkland & Ellis is increasingly competing for similar work.

The firms were part of a group of four that struck a deal with Trump last month, promising $500 million in free legal services on causes shared with the White House. The deal, which also included Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, effectively avoided punitive executive orders like those aimed at other firms and threatening to sever them from interacting with the federal government. Foreign asset managers require a law firm to obtain US government clearance for investments in the country.

“One of the few things that is unambiguous about these law firm deals is what firms he views as being in his favor,” Walter Olson, a Cato Institute constitutional law fellow, said of Trump. “Would Middle Eastern governments weigh that as an additional factor? I think they might.”

PIF and its portfolio companies have raised billions through capital markets, work largely aided by lawyers from Latham and A&O Shearman. Its borrowing surged recently as the oil-rich kingdom no longer runs budget surpluses.

The fund acts similarly to other large asset managers that Big Law firms strive to represent. It buys companies, those companies make their own deals, and all of it requires financing.

Trump, while in Riyadh this week, heralded the $1 trillion pledge of US investment from the de facto Saudi ruler and fund chairman Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Kirkland & Ellis Chair Jon Ballis was also in the Saudi capital, joining US business leaders who attended a Tuesday lunch with Trump and the crown prince.

Kirkland has more recently begun representing PIF and its subsidiaries since opening an office in Riyadh in 2023. Stephen Schwarzman, the head of asset management firm Blackstone, a major Kirkland client with Saudi ties, also attended the lunch.

Kirkland and Latham did not respond to questions for this story. An A&O Shearman spokesperson declined to comment. Simpson Thacher, which has no Middle East office and doesn’t appear to have done substantial work for PIF, did not respond to a request for comment.

Saudi Ties

Like other large firms with London roots, A&O Shearman branched out to the Middle East decades ago. It has a broad practice in the region, including the largest office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, of any global firm—83 attorneys—according to Firm Prospects. A&O’s Riyadh office, which opened in 2024, has 15 lawyers.

The kingdom only recently began doling out licenses for foreign law firms to operate there, requiring them to hire local attorneys.

Latham boasts that it was among the first outside law firms to obtain a license in 2023. It has 24 lawyers in Riyadh, Firm Prospects data show.

Harj Rai, London-based co-chair of Latham’s Saudi Arabia practice and vice chair of its project development & finance practice, has advised PIF dating back to the mid-2010s, according to an industry profile. He led Latham’s work on the $6 billion initial public offering of Saudi’s National Commercial Bank in 2014. (PIF kept a large minority share in the bank.)

Latham’s Middle East office managing partner, Salman Al-Sudairi, advises on many major Saudi IPOs, including the world’s largest, Saudi Aramco, in 2019. Al-Sudairi this year advised PIF-backed Umm Al Qura for Development and Construction Co. on its public trading debut.

PIF also turned to Latham in 2023 to handle a distressed investment it made in Rene Benko’s Signa group.

A stronger relationship between Saudi Arabia and the US could lead to more domestic deal activity for law firms, and it may also create a smoother political path for Saudi-backed deals, said Robert Mogielnicki, a senior resident scholar at The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

“On the one hand, more deals will require some involvement from lawyers,” Mogielnicki said. “On the flip side, I don’t see a political climate where I would expect huge legal opposition to many of these deals.”

The US is considering fast-tracking approvals of Saudi and other Middle East sovereign wealth fund investments, which in the Biden era drew heavier scrutiny from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

PIF’s Growing Debt Pile

Saudi Arabia’s spending plans include building a futuristic new city called Neom that could cost over $1.5 trillion if completed.

Those grand spending ambitions are crashing into depressed oil prices, pushing PIF to become a more frequent player in international capital markets.

A&O Shearman in January advised PIF in a $7 billion Islamic funding known as a Murabaha credit facility, the first such deal the sovereign wealth fund has completed.

That deal complemented Sharia-compliant issuances, known as sukuks, which PIF has priced in the past two years.

Latham advised the fund on establishing a sukuk program while A&O Shearman advised the global banks involved, according to a September prospectus. The program raised $1.25 billion this month.

The two firms play the same roles, according to a prospectus, for PIF’s euro medium-term note program, which raised $4 billion in January.

A&O Shearman last month represented PIF-backed Saudi Arabian Mining Co., known as Maaden, in its debut Islamic bond sale of $1.25 billion. Linklaters advised the bookrunners.

Such debt work might have more room to grow.

PIF is considering further broadening its borrowing capacity, including debuting a euro-denominated bond and tapping onshore US investors for the first time.