Who won and who lost in MENA M&A in Q1?

Standard Chartered, which has been building its Middle East team this year, has jumped to the top of the MENA M&A league tables for the first quarter of 2010. Perhaps not surprisingly, it's looking to recruit further.

The latest M&A league tables published by Thomson Reuters put Standard Chartered in the top spot, with Barclays Capital, Global Investment House, BNP Paribas and UBS all sharing second place.

It helps, of course, that all five were involved in Bharti Airtel's $10.7bn bid for Zain Africa, from Kuwait-based Zain Group - by far the largest deal in the MENA region this year.

Nonetheless, it also illustrates Standard Chartered's growing presence in the region. Having recently moved Vis Shankar to Dubai as CEO for the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the America's, the bank has outlined further plans for expansion in Angola, Egypt, Libya, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

"Both these continents are increasingly integrated in the globalized world," Shankar told Bloomberg. "It's going to be a big play for us."

It's also looking to hire in the UAE, and intends to double the number of relationship managers targeting affluent customers over the next two years.

Source: Thomson Reuters