Middle East merger and acquisition deals will probably rise in the next year as sovereign wealth funds look for ways to spend cash from oil sales and regional companies seek expansion, a Barclays Plc (BARC) executive said.
M&A activity is “picking up and our deal pipeline feels much better than two or three years ago,” Makram Azar, vice chairman of investment banking at Barclays, said in an interview at the bank’s Dubai offices on Aug. 30.
Sovereign wealth funds “need to put their cash to work, particularly outside the region, in emerging and high growth markets or in opportunistic deals in Europe where valuations are depressed,” he said.
A total of 194 M&A deals worth $29.7 billion have been announced in the Middle East and North Africa so far this year, down 5.3 percent from 219 deals worth $31.4 billion in the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Barclays, the second-ranked arranger of M&A deals in the region, is advising Qatar Telecom QSC on its $2.2 billion purchase of a 47.5 percent stake in Kuwait’s National Mobile Telecom Co. (NMTC) and also managed the $1.4 billion acquisition by Qatar Investment Authority of a 20 percent stake in BAA Ltd.
Countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, pump more than 20 percent of the world’s oil.
In March, Mubadala Development Co. PJSC, the investor, announced it will pay $2 billion for a 5.63 percent preferred equity interest in Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista’s EBX Group Co. to help diversify investments, while Qatari sovereign funds have been acquiring assets in companies such as Swiss miner Xstrata Plc.(XTA)
M&A Fees
Several Middle East companies are being “selectively active about acquisitions after digesting the impact of the credit crisis and cleaning up their balance sheets,” Azar said.
The London-based bank’s fees from mergers and acquisitions advisory services “will be higher than last year’s,” Azar said, without giving more details on expected earnings.
Qatar National Bank SAQ (QNBK), the Persian Gulf country’s biggest bank by assets, is in talks to buy a majority stake in Societe General SA’s Egyptian unit, National Societe Generale Bank SAE, the Cairo-based bank said Aug. 30.
Societe Generale owns 77.2 percent of its Egyptian unit that has a value of 11.9 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.9 billion), Bloomberg data shows.
Qatar National also increased its stake in the U.A.E.’s Commercial Bank International PSC (CBI) to 39.9 percent from 16.5 percent, CBI said Aug. 30, a deal worth about $75 million.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) is the top M&A advisor in the Middle East and Africa and globally this year, according to Bloomberg data. The value of announced M&A deals globally has declined 32 percent this year to $1.38 trillion, the data shows.
bloomberg.com
M&A activity is “picking up and our deal pipeline feels much better than two or three years ago,” Makram Azar, vice chairman of investment banking at Barclays, said in an interview at the bank’s Dubai offices on Aug. 30.
Sovereign wealth funds “need to put their cash to work, particularly outside the region, in emerging and high growth markets or in opportunistic deals in Europe where valuations are depressed,” he said.
A total of 194 M&A deals worth $29.7 billion have been announced in the Middle East and North Africa so far this year, down 5.3 percent from 219 deals worth $31.4 billion in the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Barclays, the second-ranked arranger of M&A deals in the region, is advising Qatar Telecom QSC on its $2.2 billion purchase of a 47.5 percent stake in Kuwait’s National Mobile Telecom Co. (NMTC) and also managed the $1.4 billion acquisition by Qatar Investment Authority of a 20 percent stake in BAA Ltd.
Countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, pump more than 20 percent of the world’s oil.
In March, Mubadala Development Co. PJSC, the investor, announced it will pay $2 billion for a 5.63 percent preferred equity interest in Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista’s EBX Group Co. to help diversify investments, while Qatari sovereign funds have been acquiring assets in companies such as Swiss miner Xstrata Plc.(XTA)
M&A Fees
Several Middle East companies are being “selectively active about acquisitions after digesting the impact of the credit crisis and cleaning up their balance sheets,” Azar said.
The London-based bank’s fees from mergers and acquisitions advisory services “will be higher than last year’s,” Azar said, without giving more details on expected earnings.
Qatar National Bank SAQ (QNBK), the Persian Gulf country’s biggest bank by assets, is in talks to buy a majority stake in Societe General SA’s Egyptian unit, National Societe Generale Bank SAE, the Cairo-based bank said Aug. 30.
Societe Generale owns 77.2 percent of its Egyptian unit that has a value of 11.9 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.9 billion), Bloomberg data shows.
Qatar National also increased its stake in the U.A.E.’s Commercial Bank International PSC (CBI) to 39.9 percent from 16.5 percent, CBI said Aug. 30, a deal worth about $75 million.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) is the top M&A advisor in the Middle East and Africa and globally this year, according to Bloomberg data. The value of announced M&A deals globally has declined 32 percent this year to $1.38 trillion, the data shows.
bloomberg.com
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