Promising signs that M&A bankers will be needed again very soon

It's been a grim 12 months for Middle East M&A activity, with volumes last year down nearly 50% on 2008. However, the new year has seen a flurry of deals, and banks are beginning to recruit investment bankers once again.

While figures from Thomson Reuters show that the value of M&A in the Middle East tumbled by 50% last year, this year is already proving to be a different story.

M&A deals undertaken in the Middle East in January alone were worth more than $2bn, according to mergermarket data, only marginally below the $2.3bn recorded in the whole of the first half of last year.

The company has also predicted companies disposing of non-core assets will increase M&A activity in the MENA region this year.

While FIG and real estate have both become strong areas for M&A activity, hiring is unlikely to be restricted to these, predicts says Roy Cherry, vice-president, research, real estate & construction at Shuaa Capital.

"Other sectors could offer even larger opportunities. While financial institutions are preparing themselves for more transactions this year, resourcefulness remains the mantra and hiring will be pinpointed and highly selective," he adds.

"FIG is becoming a hot area and, as there are very few managing director-level dedicated FIG bankers, they are sought after right now," agrees Mark Swan, director, MENA at Principal Search.

"There will be movement in this sector and we are already seeing mandates being awarded," he adds.

But after last year's traumas, for the moment, much of the activity is focused on internal moves, cautions Raed Sater, of recruitment firm EWK International.

"Banks will probably be looking internally initially, but the sort of people most in demand will be M&A generalists. Even though real estate was taking a big piece of the activity, clients we find tend to like generalists who have a bit of skew to a certain area," he explains.