Optimising Family Business Structures: Legal, Financial, and Practical Insights

Mohammed is a partner in Clyde & Co’s corporate group. He advises family businesses, financial institutions, investors, and Saudi and multinational corporations on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), divestitures, joint ventures (JVs), restructurings, reorganisations, corporate governance and compliance, general corporate advisory, and capital markets matters in Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed has advised on a number of corporate transactions, working with clients operating in the aviation, education, energy, financial services, healthcare, infrastructure, technology, real estate, and retail and consumer sectors.
Mohammed is a licensed lawyer in Saudi Arabia, a qualified attorney in the State of New York, and a qualified solicitor in England and Wales. He completed the Executive Programme in Private Equity from the Said Business School – University of Oxford in 2019.

Atif is a legal director in Clyde & Co’s corporate group and is based in the Riyadh office.
Atif specialises in commercial law and has experience in advising on a variety of complex commercial matters, both contentious and non-contentious, across various sectors including corporate & commercial, construction & engineering, energy and natural resources, healthcare, infrastructure, trading, and marine.
Atif regularly advises both Saudi and international companies that conduct, or are interested in doing, business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on a broad range of matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, commercial agency, foreign direct investment, project finance, and trade finance. Atif is also experienced in advising clients on cross-border disputes, as well as the enforcement of foreign awards in Saudi Arabia.

Basma Al Zamil hails from a well-renowned family enterprise, the Zamil Group based in Saudi Arabia. She has the distinct privilege of being one of the first female family members to work in the family enterprise, and through her various accomplishments, has risen to become one of the new generation of leaders within the group. She is regarded both in her family and the country as an expert in family enterprise transitions through governance, succession planning, leadership development, and technology.
Today she advises leading families in the region working as advisor in LGA Global, supporting the families to navigate complex issues while maintaining a harmonious family dynamic. She is deeply committed to empowering women and promoting gender diversity, and has been instrumental in championing these causes.
Basma started her professional journey at Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University as a Student Affairs Coordinator.

Ismael Hajjar is a UAE based partner specialising in international tax & wealth structuring, family office and private capital advisory.
He started his career in Europe and has been serving international families for over 16 years. He relocated to the UAE in 2013 and is currently acting as a trusted advisor to a number of successful families across the Middle East region.
He is leading PwC Tax and Legal service offering to private clients, entrepreneurial & royal families and family offices in helping them understand and manage their global affairs, overcome cross-border tax challenges and identify opportunities to achieve their family and business objectives.
Prior to joining PwC, Ismael was acting as head of Private for another big four firm and was responsible for the design and execution of the overall firm strategy for private companies and their owners across all service lines.

Ovais Naqvi is a Private Equity leader and Venture Capital investor with a track record of investing in some of the pioneering VC-invested companies in growth markets. He has been – or is – an investor in leading “unicorn” success stories such as Careem, Kitopi, NinjaVan and Big Basket, as well as The Giving Movement, the GCC region’s leading omnichannel sustainable fashion player.
Ovais is a Partner at Rise Capital, a firm focusing on early-stage investing in growth markets. Rise Capital’s investments including Kitopi in the GCC, Egypt’s Homzmart and MaxAB, Nigeria’s GoKada and Lat Am’s BNPL leader, Kueski, as well as Brazil’s social commerce market leader, Faci.ly and StockGro, SaveIN and TradeX in India.
He founded Clear Mountain in 2020; the advisory firm is focused on growth and fundraising advisory and Ovais has been a Board & IC member at modest fashion market leader, Modanisa.

Hassan manages the private wealth practice at Alzawawi Law Firm. He trained at an international law firm in London and worked for two leading Saudi law firms in Jeddah and Riyadh prior to joining Alzawawi Law Firm. He has a particular focus on providing corporate and regulatory advice to private wealth clients and their businesses. He also focuses on providing legal advice in relation to acquisition transactions, corporate restructurings and advising multinational clients on setting up their businesses in the Kingdom and in relation to contentious matters. Hassan has a wide experience across various sectors including food and beverage, hospitality and hotels, casual dining, pharmaceuticals and healthcare. As well as being a qualified lawyer in Saudi Arabia, who represents clients before the Saudi courts in various disputes, he is also a qualified solicitor in England & Wales.

Yasmine is a family business advisor based in Dubai and has spent more than a decade dedicated to working with family businesses, family offices and business owning families on supporting them through generational change. Yasmine’s practice focuses primarily on devising multi–generational succession plans and governance systems using region specific tools designed to propagate harmony, fairness and transparency within a family business context. In parallel, Yasmine assists family-owned businesses in creating comprehensive tax strategies that maximize financial benefits, mitigate tax liabilities, and align with the unique goals of each family member and the overall business vision.

Christopher is the Regional Director – Middle East at Fiduchi, overseeing Fiduchi Limited (DMCC Branch) and the representative office in Dubai. With over a decade of experience in the financial services industry in the Middle East and Europe. Since 2018, he has led Fiduchi’s Middle East operations, establishing the Dubai office in 2019. His expertise spans offshore trust and corporate services, serving financial institutions, corporates, government entities, and high net worth families. Christopher holds a BA in history and a Diploma in political science, and he is a Chartered Member (MCSI) of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, as well as a qualified Trust & Estate Practitioner (TEP) of STEP.

Rajah Abusrewil leads Walkers' Jersey Private Capital & Trusts practice group and advises local and international fiduciaries, family offices and UHNWIs on all aspects of wealth structuring. Rajah has extensive experience both in private practice and in-house, and has worked in London, Bermuda, Cayman, and Guernsey, with more than eighteen years' experience.
She has carved a niche as a leader in the field who specialises in advising international families and family offices on the establishment, administration and termination of trusts, foundations, family offices and related structures, including risk review and mitigation for cross-border structures.
Taking a lead in Walkers' international family office offering, Rajah regularly works with clients to create bespoke tailored solutions for their family requirements. She also focuses on international business development in the Middle East region coordinating with colleagues from our multiple offices.