The firm's flagship strength — company formation, MISA licensing, and capital markets.
Riyadh hosts the largest concentration of head offices, regulators, and capital in Saudi Arabia, and the corporate work that follows reflects that: foreign investors licensing a new entity, boards managing governance obligations, and shareholders resolving disputes before they escalate.
This is where the firm's flagship strengths sit — one of the two lead practices the team's deepest experience is built on. Company formation, MISA foreign investment licensing, and capital markets work are handled by attorneys who work these files daily, not occasionally, alongside full coverage of governance, M&A, restructuring, contracts, and commercial disputes below.
When you decide to form a company in Riyadh, the first real decision is legal structure — a limited liability company, a joint stock company, or registering a branch of an existing foreign company. Each carries different implications for liability, the ability to raise financing later, and even how easily a new investor can come on board down the line. Getting the structure wrong at the outset costs time and money to convert later, and can sometimes complicate bringing in an important investor at a critical moment.
Once the structure is set, a sequence of actual steps follows: reserving the trade name, drafting the Articles of Association, notarizing them, issuing the Commercial Registration from the Ministry of Commerce, and registering with the Chamber of Commerce. If any partner is non-Saudi, a MISA track needs to run alongside these steps — not after formation — so the entity is properly licensed from its very first day of operation.
We manage this entire journey with you, and make sure the Articles of Association themselves aren't just a filled-in template — they need to genuinely reflect how you and your partners actually agree to split profits, exit rights, and what happens if a partner withdraws later.
Saudi Arabia opened most sectors to full foreign ownership through Ministry of Investment (MISA) licensing — a major shift compared to years when a Saudi partner was an almost universal requirement. But "most sectors" isn't "every sector" — a restricted activities list still exists, and some sectors carry additional conditions like a minimum capital requirement or prior investor experience.
The application itself needs precision: the registered activity has to genuinely match what the company actually does, since any gap between the licensed activity and real operations tends to surface later at license renewal or during an audit. We help you determine the correct classification from the start, and factor in future expansion plans so you're not amending the license every time you add a new activity.
Many founders treat corporate governance as a formality handled at formation and then forgotten — but it's actually an ongoing obligation: properly documented board meetings, general assembly resolutions recorded correctly, and updating the Commercial Registration whenever a partner, activity, or capital amount changes.
Companies that neglect this side usually discover the problem at the worst possible time — when a new investor requests due diligence before investing, or when a dispute arises between partners and someone needs to prove a specific board decision. Properly documented governance from the start saves you this headache later.
As your company grows, or you consider acquiring a competitor or merging with a strategic partner, M&A work brings its own complexity: comprehensive due diligence on the other side, drafting the acquisition agreement itself, and coordinating with the General Authority for Competition where the deal requires its approval.
In the other direction, if your company faces genuine financial difficulty, we also cover restructuring and bankruptcy and liquidation under Saudi Bankruptcy Law, including negotiating with creditors and preserving as much of the company's value as possible during the restructuring process.
Not everything runs smoothly all the time — sometimes a disagreement between partners or shareholders arises over profit distribution, management authority, or how a clause in the Articles of Association should be interpreted. In this situation, the same team that formed your company and understands its structure from the inside can move faster than an outside firm that doesn't know your specific details.
And if matters develop to the point of needing actual litigation before the commercial court or arbitration through the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration, we coordinate directly with the firm's Disputes & Litigation team, rather than referring you to a separate firm unfamiliar with your case's background.
This practice covers foreign investors entering the Saudi market for the first time, Saudi founders structuring a new venture, boards and compliance officers managing an existing entity's obligations, and shareholders or partners in an active dispute. If your company operates in a specific sector with its own considerations, also check the Industries page, which covers more than thirty sectors in dedicated detail.
Matters are handled in both Arabic and English, with attorneys available to liaise directly with the Ministry of Commerce, MISA, the Capital Market Authority, and the General Authority for Competition where a matter requires it. If you need to understand the financial or tax side of a business decision you're making, this practice integrates directly with Finance, Banking & Tax.
You don't need to wait for a problem to happen before reaching out. The best time to contact us is before you sign any significant document — Articles of Association, a shareholder agreement, an acquisition offer — because correcting a mistake in a document after signing is far harder and more expensive than getting it right beforehand. If you're in any of these situations, reaching out now beats waiting: you're thinking about forming a company and need to know the right legal structure, you have a foreign partner who needs MISA licensing, you've received an acquisition offer and want to confirm its terms before agreeing, or a disagreement has emerged between you and a partner over a management decision.
Message us on WhatsApp and describe your situation briefly — you don't need precise legal terminology, just explain what's happening, and we'll take it from there.
Not in most sectors. Since Saudi Arabia opened most sectors to full foreign ownership under MISA licensing, a Saudi partner is only required in a limited number of activities on the government's restricted list. We can confirm whether your specific activity qualifies for full foreign ownership during a consultation.
A business consultancy can advise on strategy and market entry, but only a licensed law firm can draft binding legal documents, represent you before the Ministry of Commerce and courts, and take formal responsibility for the legal accuracy of your company's formation and governance documents.
Yes — corporate formation, ongoing governance, and dispute resolution (including partner and shareholder disputes) sit within the same practice group, so the attorneys who structured your company are familiar with it if a dispute arises later.
It depends on the legal structure and whether MISA licensing is required. Wholly Saudi-owned companies are typically faster, while entities with foreign ownership need extra time for the licensing track. We'll give you a realistic timeline once we understand your specific situation.
Yes — this is a core part of our M&A work, and includes reviewing corporate records, material contracts, and any undisclosed litigation or financial obligations before you commit to the deal.
Expert Riyadh