DUBAI, 19 June 2017 – Hogan Lovells has advised Kingdom Holding Company ("KHC") on their acquisition of a 7% stake in Careem – a Dubai- based, chauffeur-driven car booking service.

KHC acquired their stake of Careem through a Secondary Share purchase, as well as participating in the latest Primary Round E-1 Capital Raise, amounting to a total transaction value of US$62M.

The transaction makes KHC one of the largest holders of Preferred Shares in Careem and will grant KHC a seat on Careem’s Board of Directors. Founded in 2012, Careem is active in more than 80 cities across the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Pakistan.

Kingdom Holding Company is one of the world’s foremost value investment firms and is renowned for its interest in both high performance global brands and strategic regional interests. Based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, KHC is led by its Founder and Chairman, HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal.

The Hogan Lovells team was led by Mark Mazo (Partner, Washington D.C. / Paris) and Charles Fuller (Partner, Dubai), with support from Sami Osman (Associate, Dubai) and Merry Anderson (Counsel, Washington, D.C.).

Commenting on the transaction, Mark said:

“This is an important transaction in the region and also a continuation of KHC’s strategy of investing in new technologies, as it has done with investments in Twitter, JD.com and Lyft. Hogan Lovells has been pleased to support KHC on all of these transactions in what is an exciting time for the sector"

Hogan Lovells has a first-rate reputation as a leader in mergers and acquisitions. Our international team advises on many of the largest and most complex deals around the world. We have all the resources of a global firm, along with deep capabilities in local markets and broad industry-specific knowledge. We are consistently ranked in the top 10 for deal-making globally. Over the past two years, we advised on more than US$320 billion in announced mergers and acquisitions – or over 400 public and private transactions.