What is the background of Lamudi? Could you describe the company’s presence in Jordan? Lamudi , the emerging market real estate classifieds player, officially launched operations in 13 countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America in October 2013. Less than one year later, we are present in 28 countries. As the online real estate market… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: Middle East
Middle East Investors Expected To Spend Us$180 Billion In Global Real Estate Markets Over Next Decad
Middle Eastern investors are expected to spend US$180 billion in commercial real estate markets outside of their own region over the next decade, according to the latest research from global property advisor CBRE. Continue Reading
Middle East Investors Expected To Spend Us$180 Billion In Global Real Estate Markets Over Next Decad
Middle Eastern investors are expected to spend US$180 billion in commercial real estate markets outside of their own region over the next decade, according to the latest research from global property advisor CBRE. Continue Reading
RenCap hiring for new Dubai office
By Andrei Skvarsky. Renaissance Capital has made three hires for a new office that the Russian investment bank is due to open in Dubai later this summer, and plans more recruitments for it. Continue Reading
Sberbank, Abu Dhabi’s Invest AD clinch “strategic” deal
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and Abu Dhabi’s state-owned Invest AD investment management firm have signed a preliminary deal on “strategic” cooperation in asset management in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Middle East, Sberbank said. Continue Reading
RenCap hires banker from Goldman Sachs to run London trading
By Andrei Skvarsky. Renaissance Capital, a Russian emerging- and frontier-markets investment bank, has hired David George from Goldman Sachs as head of trading in London. {{{?}}} George will be based in London in his new job, which he takes in March, and report to RenCap’s global head of equities, Ben Samuels. His duties will include… Continue Reading
RenCap hires Merrill banker for senior Europe sales job
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian brokerage Renaissance Capital has hired Amr Aboushaban from Bank of America Merrill Lynch as vice-president in its equities sales team. {{{?}}} Aboushaban’s main responsibility will be client coverage in London and across Europe, but his duties will include helping to build out coverage in the Middle East and North Africa, RenCap… Continue Reading
EBRD invests in leading Turkish textile company
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development continues to boost Turkey’s Anatolian regions, making a €3.7 million loan to Kivanc Tekstil, a leading producer of clothing fabrics and yarn based in Adana. Kivanc Tekstil, 100 per cent owned and controlled by the founding family of the same name, has successfully operated in the textile sector for… Continue Reading
EBRD invests in Turkey's first infrastructure bond
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is supporting Turkey’s first ever infrastructure bond with a US$79.5 million participation in a US$ 450 million Eurobond, launched by Mersin International Port (MIP), the private operator of the port of Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast in southern Turkey. The debut bond will be used for refinancing an… Continue Reading
Sberbank pulls off cooperation deal with Gulf’s top-notch NBAD
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and a top bank in the Gulf, National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), have reached an agreement to cooperate in trade financing, loan syndication, client support and investment banking. “Access to new financial markets is an integral part of our international strategy,” a Sberbank statement quoted the Russian… Continue Reading
Reviving The Future Of Retail Banking Through Islamic Finance
5th Worild Islamic Retail Banking Conference, (26 – 27 November, Shangri-La Hotel in Dubai – UAE), will gather global industry leaders to brainstorm, understand and analyze the importance of Islamic finance in regards with retail banking. Global Islamic banking assets with commercial banks to reach $1.8 trillion in 2013 (2011: $1.3 trillion), representing average annual… Continue Reading
PineBridge Investments appoints Chief Investment Officer
PineBridge Investments announced an appointment of new chief investment officer. Wael Aburida will lead the company’s MENA Private Equity and Real Estate Team covering the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, with responsibility for deal origination, negotiations, execution, portfolio management, and exits. Aburida joins from UAE-based Waha Capital where he was director of Mergers & Acquisitions, and was… Continue Reading
EAST CAPITAL COMMENT: Turkish growth set to continue
The Turkish stock market has continued to perform well, and is already up 10.1 percent since the beginning of the year. That performance is just a continuation of a trend that has seen the market rise since the beginning of 2012. But for how long can it continue to perform? “Looking at the big picture,… Continue Reading
Marsh appoints head of business development for MENA region
Marsh has appointed Neil Irwin to lead the firm’s business development across its Middle East and North Africa region. He will be based in Dubai and joins the region’s executive committee, reporting to Robert Makhoul, chief executive officer, Marsh MENA. After joining 1991, Irwin has held a variety of strategic business development, consulting and senior management positions within… Continue Reading
Deutsche Bank appoints regional head of global transaction banking for MEA
Deutsche Bank announced the appointment of Harold Leenen, as the regional head of global transaction banking (GTB) for the Middle East and Africa (MEA). Leenen takes over from Sriram Iyer, who will relocate to London as global head of Deutsche Bank’s trust & agency services group, which provides trustee, agency, escrow and related services to corporate clients,… Continue Reading
4D Global Energy Advisors invest $17M in Aladdin Middle East
As part of a funding round of USD20 mln initiated by Turkey-focused oil and natural gas company Aladdin Middle East (AME), 4D Global Energy Advisors have invested USD17 mln through its Fund III. The remainder of the funding was provided by the founders of AME, who continue to be majority stakeholders in the company. The funding will primarily be used… Continue Reading
8th Annual Middle East Retail Banking Forum Opens In Dubai, UAE
Dedicated three-day event puts spotlight on the future of Middle East retail banking, while examining its growth opportunities and current obstacles Dubai, UAE, 15 April 2013: The 8th Annual Middle East Retail Banking Forum has officially commenced today, as more than 200 delegates gather to learn the latest technologies and issues surrounding the region’s retail… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Goldman Sachs hires ex-Deutsche banker to run MENA unit
Goldman Sachs has hired Saleh Romeih, who left Deutsche Bank in September, as head of {{{*}}} securities division distribution for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), according to a financial market source. Romeih, who spent 18 years at Deutsche, was the German bank’s head for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa,… Continue Reading
Wermuth’s pro-environment fund pulls off second deal in short while
By Andrei Skvarsky. Wermuth Asset Management, a German firm with most of its business interests in Russia, has reported a second transaction by its sustainable energy-focused Green Gateway Fund, with the previous deal announced just three days ago. {{{*}}} Green Gateway Fund, whose legal name is Europe-Tatarstan Cleantech Fund, led a group of investors that put… Continue Reading
EBRD to have permanent office in Jordan
By Andrei Skvarsky. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is to have a permanent office in Amman under a recent agreement with the Jordanian government. {{{*}}} The EBRD said in a statement that it had appointed Heike Harmgart, one of its senior economists, as head of the office. The EBRD, which began investing in… Continue Reading
Runa Capital leads $4.7M series A round for Israeli mobile solutions company Cellrox
{{{?:0}}} Cellrox, an Israeli start-up in the mobile services domain, has bagged a USD 4.7 mln round of funding during its Series A round. Led by Runa Capital, the company’s existing investors are also participating in the round. They include Columbia Technology Ventures and Previz Venture Partners, among others. The funding will be used to… Continue Reading
Is Qatar on your entrepreneurial watch list?
{{{?:0}}} Entrepreneurs looking for potential investment opportunities ought to place Qatar high on their watch lists during the next year or two or else they could be missing out big time. Huge billion-dollar infrastructure projects, not to mention the 2022 FIFA World Cup competition, mean major companies from around the world eagerly eyeing the oil-rich… Continue Reading
Abraaj hires EMPEA chief for top brass role
{{{?:0}}} The Abraaj Group, a Dubai-based private equity and venture capital firm, has handed a top managerial role to Sarah Alexander, head and co-founder of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA), an independent global business promotion body. In her new job, which she takes up next month, Alexander will look after the North American… Continue Reading
Fastlane Ventures booster of startups gets Kazakh tycoon Rakishev on board
By Andrei Skvarsky. Fastlane Ventures, a Moscow-based venture capital firm specialising in support for startup Web businesses, has given a seat on its board to Kenges Rakishev, a Kazakh tycoon and high-profile international technology industry investor. Fastlane received a $13m investment from Rakishev, according to a statement from the company, which takes about 50 days… Continue Reading
VTB Capital hires ex-Royal Bank of Scotland researcher as chief economist for MEA
By Andrei Skvarsky. VTB Capital has hired Raza Agha from Royal Bank of Scotland as chief economist for the Middle East and Africa. Agha will be based in London, according to a statement from the Moscow-headquartered brokerage arm of Russia’s VTB Group. He had worked at the World Bank, the Netherlands’ ABN AMRO, the Pakistani… Continue Reading
Deutsche Bank's CEEMEA top brass part company with senior figure
By Andrei Skvarsky. Deutsche Bank has parted company with Saleh Romeih, head of central and eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at the firm’s capital markets and treasury solutions (CMTS) unit. Nizar Al-Bassam, head of markets sales and coverage for the region, has been named as Romeih’s replacement, according to Bloomberg. Romeih is credited with… Continue Reading
Abraaj, US govt launch $400m Middle East private equity fund
By Andrei Skvarsky. Abraaj Capital, a leading Middle East private equity firm, is going to set up a $400m fund to boost small- and medium-scale business in North Africa and the Middle East and has signed a $150m deal with the US government to partially finance the project. Egypt is “one of the core target… Continue Reading
AGC makes biggest-ever Middle East investment in Russia
By Andrei Skvarsky. AGC Equity Partners has acquired $175m interest in a major Russian generating company in what is seen as the largest-ever Middle East investment in Russia. The London-headquartered firm with a team in the Middle East is part of an international consortium that has bought a 26.43% blocking stake in Italian-controlled Enel OGK-5… Continue Reading
VTB Capital makes new hires in Middle East and Africa
In line with VTB Capital’s global expansion strategy, James Williams, Head of Middle East Equity Trading, Nick Bye, Middle East Equity Structuring, Karim Nsouli, Head of Middle East Cash Equity Sales & Sales Trading, Ali Salam, Head of Strategic Equity Distribution – Middle East and Ziad Al Amin, Head of Multi Product Origination and Distribution… Continue Reading