Dubai still mad for M&A bankers

Qatar may have pulled its 10.6bn acquisition of UK supermarket group J. Sainsbury, but there's no less demand for M&A bankers in the Middle East.

Qatar may have pulled its 10.6bn acquisition of UK supermarket group J. Sainsbury, but there's no less demand for M&A bankers in the Middle East.

"Certain houses are hiring aggressively and there is demand in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Basically, people with experience in FIG and the real estate sector hold the key," says Russell Adam, managing director, GCC, Akamai Financial Markets.

Dubai Holding, an umbrella company launched by the Dubai government, last month set up a new M&A and private equity arm. Large US banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Lehman already have an M&A presence in the region.

Back in July, Georges Makhoul, managing director for the Middle East at Morgan Stanley, told the Financial Times they were originally doing more M&A than they thought possible. The intervening period has seen the emergence of big deals like Borse Dubai's US$4.9bn bid for Swedish exchange OMX.

The pace of takeovers may accelerate as oil prices soar. The GCC nations have already spent over $68bn on overseas acquisitions this year, according to Bloomberg.

"M&A activity in emerging Europe and the Middle East is a source of uncapped fee revenues, and there is going to be bigger growth than in established European markets," Dow Jones quoted a banker as saying.

Adam says salaries are rising and certain packages are localised, with expatriates being offered accommodation subsidies. A junior M&A analyst can expect a pay packet in the range of $82k to $93k per annum, along with family tickets, insurance and housing subsidy.