Citigroup seeks more business in the Gulf region

In the past two years, Citigroup Inc.’s investment banking division has grown by 50%, and additional employees are being hired in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), joining rivals looking to profit from the booming Gulf IPO market. This year, the Gulf area has experienced a boom in public share sales thanks to strong oil prices and government-sponsored privatization initiatives.
Gulf issuers have raised about $16 billion in initial public offerings (IPOs) this year, accounting for about half of total IPO proceeds from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Refinitiv data shows.
The growth in Gulf equity capital markets is in sharp contrast to the United States and Europe, where global banks have been trimming headcount in a dealmaking drought.
Citigroup moved its director for power, renewables, and utilities, Omar El Duraie, to Dubai from London this year .
It is planning to add more people in Saudi Arabia and the UAE by the end of the year, said Miguel Azevedo, Citi’s head of investment banking for the Middle East and Africa, excluding South Africa.
“This year the region has been extremely active while the rest of the world has been on pause,” he told Reuters.
Many IPOs have had books covered within an hour or a few hours from opening. Some have increased the size of offerings during the process to accommodate the strong demand.
Rothschild & Co., which just built a branch in Saudi Arabia, is one of the Gulf companies growing, and Goldman Sachs is now recruiting bankers for the region’s wealth management and investment banking operations.