Fewer mergers and stock market listings meant a slower year for the region’s investment banks in 2020, with the overall fees earned dropping 12 per cent to $1.2 billion, according to data provider Refinitiv.
Advisory work on debt deals boomed, with bond issuers from the Middle East and North Africa raising a record $120.7bn – a 15 per cent year-on-year increase. The UAE was the most active issuer, with sovereign and corporate borrowers raising about a third of this, or $40.6bn.
However, following a bumper 2019 that featured the world’s biggest stock market listing – Saudi Aramco’s $25.6bn initial public offering – fundraising on Mena equity markets plunged 86 per cent last year to $4.6bn.
Some $70.3bn of mergers and acquisitions involving Mena companies were completed last year.
"This makes 2020 the fourth highest annual total of all time, despite falling 47 per cent in value from the record high achieved [in 2019] with Saudi Aramco's agreement to buy a stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp for $69.1bn," Refinitiv's 2020 Mena Investment Banking Review showed.
The biggest merger deal last year was the $15.6bn merger between Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank and Samba Financial Group. The second-biggest was the $10.1bn sale of a 49 per cent stake in Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s gas pipeline network to a group of investors including Singaporean wealth fund GIC, Global Infrastructure Partners and Brookfield Asset Management.
About two-thirds of the investment banking fees generated in the region were earned by bankers based either in the UAE or Saudi Arabia. Some $433.9m – or 36 per cent – of the total was generated in the UAE and $382.9m was generated in Saudi Arabia. HSBC was the top fee earner, with an 8.6 per cent share of the total fees earned, followed by JP Morgan with 7.1 per cent and Citi with 6.3 per cent.
The slightly more subdued market meant salaries in the investment banking sector remained largely flat last year, with 54 per cent of respondents to Hays’ 2021 GCC Salary and Employment Report saying their salary remained unchanged, 9 per cent reporting a cut and 37 per cent an increase.
"Expectations for this year are that investment professionals' salaries will remain stable, if not increase," Daivik Malhotra, a banking and financial services recruiter for Hays Middle East, told The National.
Hiring rates were low as a result of Covid-19, but “picked up significantly in the last quarter of 2020 and we expect this to continue into 2021”, he added.
“International investment banks, who are largely based in DIFC, are doing the most hiring in the region. Demand for their services has remained strong,” he said.
Hays’ salary survey found that a director-level post in the industry attracted an average salary of about Dh80,000 per month, while a senior associate’s average pay was about Dh60,000 and an associate Dh40,000.
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
Company%C2%A0profile
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Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
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Fines for littering
In Dubai:
Dh200 for littering or spitting in the Dubai Metro
Dh500 for throwing cigarette butts or chewing gum on the floor, or littering from a vehicle.
Dh1,000 for littering on a beach, spitting in public places, throwing a cigarette butt from a vehicle
In Sharjah and other emirates
Dh500 for littering - including cigarette butts and chewing gum - in public places and beaches in Sharjah
Dh2,000 for littering in Sharjah deserts
Dh500 for littering from a vehicle in Ras Al Khaimah
Dh1,000 for littering from a car in Abu Dhabi
Dh1,000 to Dh100,000 for dumping waste in residential or public areas in Al Ain
Dh10,000 for littering at Ajman's beaches
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Women & Power: A Manifesto
Mary Beard
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
