The Bench advised the award-winning podcast production company Finyal Media on its acquisition by the Jordanian podcast and media company Sowt. Finyal Media produces a range of popular Arabic fiction podcasts, including 1001 Nights, Juha, The 40 Thieves and The Basement. The Bench has worked with Finyal Media on a number of matters over the years including its talent division, Finyal Studios, which serves as a hub for Arabic podcasters. Sowt is a digital audio media company producing podcasts, audiobooks, and audio articles focusing on Arabic-speaking audiences. The financier of the acquisition, MDIF, invests in independent media around the world providing news, information, and debate.
Leila Hamadeh, Finyal Co-Founder & CEO, said, "We are thrilled that Finyal Media has been acquired by Sowt and that our content will continue to grow to reach millions of listeners across the region. We believe this acquisition marks a major milestone in the development of the MENA podcast industry and expect to see further growth and consolidation in the future."
The Bench team was led by Gerard Hobby who commented “It was a pleasure working on this transaction with Leila and the team and it is always rewarding to assist a home-grown start-up scale and successfully exit”. The Bench’s corporate team has received recognition in legal directories such as Legal 500 which commented “The Bench is a boutique law firm with a core focus on the hospitality and TMT sectors. Its key areas of activity include franchising, licence agreements and M&A transactions”.