Bilal Ambikapathy

Bilal Ambikapathy is a partner specialising in real estate and hotels. He previously lead Baker McKenzie's real estate and hotels practice in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar for 14 years.

He has a commercial practice focusing on domestic and international hotel projects and real estate transactions, principally in Saudi Arabia and the broader Middle East and North Africa region. Bilal has negotiated over 140 hotel management agreements for hotel owners against all the world's leading international hotel operators. Bilal regularly acts for investment banks on the formation of real estate funds and REITs in Saudi Arabia and on the acquisition and disposal of assets owned by funds. Bilal has been involved in the establishment of funds in Saudi Arabia since the inception of the Real Estate Investment Fund regulations and has direct experience of how the approach to funds has evolved over time, both in terms of regulation and market sentiment.