Rad El Treki

Rise of Generative AI

Welcome to the latest edition of Law Update titled “Rise of Generative AI.”

In this edition, we dive into the dynamic world of Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. TMT continues to play a vital role in positioning the region as an international business and social hub, driving significant growth and innovation.

Our focus in this Law Update is on the sector’s ongoing potential to advance and propel the region toward a more digital economy. We explore the benefits of embracing a digital transformation and how local authorities have responded by enhancing regulations to accommodate the evolving TMT landscape.

This edition covers a range of topics, including – the new Telecommunications & Information Technology Law in Saudi Arabia, the intricacies of trademarks in the Metaverse, and the legal challenges faced by the video game industry. Additionally, we take a regional perspective, discussing jurisdictions such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, and Bahrain to provide a comprehensive understanding of the TMT landscape.

We hope you thoroughly enjoy this packed issue of Law Update, filled with captivating articles that address key legal issues within a vital sector for the region.

Read the full edition

The leading law firm in the Middle East & North Africa region.

Rad El Treki

Partner, Head of Office - Bahrain

Biography

Rad is a UK qualified Partner and heads the firm’s Bahrain Office with over 20 years of experience practicing in the UK and across the Middle East.

Rad leads the Bahrain office’s highly ranked Corporate practice. He delivers a diversified and broad corporate commercial offering with particular expertise in corporate finance, corporate structuring, group re-structurings, cross border M&A and JVs. Additionally, Rad has a wealth of experience advising on the corporate aspects of big-ticket state mandated project financings, particularly within the energy / O&G sector. His extensive experience includes the start-up and scale-up space, advising entrepreneurs, incubation and acceleration centres, private equity firms, and venture capitalists in Bahrain and the wider region. He also regularly delivers related presentations, mentoring, coaching, and workshops.

Rad’s clients include domestic and international public and private companies, sovereign wealth funds, international conglomerates, private equity funds, venture capital firms and a wide range of start-up and scale up entities, including a number of the region’s ‘Unicorns’.

Rad qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales in 2005 whilst working for a large UK regional law firm. From there, he moved to the Middle East, joining a first tier firm in Qatar advising on some of the most significant projects in the country, before moving to a well-reputed global firm in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, thereafter joining Al-Tamimi & Company in 2016.

Rad is ranked as a “Leading Individual” by Legal 500 and a “Ranked Lawyer” by Chambers & Partners for Corporate, Commercial and M&A, and is named as one of the 50 leading lawyers in the MENA region by Thomson Reuter’s Asia Legal Business in both 2021 and 2022

Recent Experience

Representing Bahrain Financing Company (BFC) (Bahrain’s leading money transfer and currency exchange company) on the sale of its group business in Bahrain, Kuwait and India to Prism Group and Royal Strategic Partners (owners of Finablr).
Advising Raya Group (listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange) in its acquisition of 85% of the shares of Gulf CX, one of the leading call center services provider across the Gulf region with operations HQ-ed out of Bahrain.
Advising Koch Chemical Technology Group Saudi Arabia Limited (part of the Koch global group) on its acquisition of the operating assets of Titanium Steel & Manufacturing Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Steel Pipe Co (a company listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange).
Local Counsel advising Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Company (SAFCO) on the Bahrain related elements of its proposed US$1.2bn acquisition from SABIC of interests in various agricultural nutrient assets, including SABIC’s interests in Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) in Bahrain.
Al Dur II Integrated Water & Power Plant (IWPP): Advising the lenders as local lead counsel in relation to the corporate related aspects of the development, ownership and operation of the Al Dur II IWPP project, one of the largest project financings in Bahrain and the GCC in recent years (project value c. US$1.5bn).