Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, UBS and BNP Paribas: the places to (currently) be in Middle Eastern M&A

Contrary to previous reports on Middle Eastern M&A activity, new figures from Thomson Reuters suggest 2010 has actually been a very good year so far.

Middle East targeted M&A reached $15bn in the third quarter, which amounts to ten times the (admittedly pitiful) levels at that point in 2009. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the equity and debt capital markets, which both posted lower deal activity than at this point last year.

The upside of this, from an employment point of view, is that more deals means greater fees and therefore more of a chance that investment banks will start bolstering their ranks once again.

With this in mind, where should you be looking to position yourself? Although both RBS and Barclays Capital have been making noise about hiring in the region, this has yet to be reflected in gaining a bigger slice of the advisory pie.

RBS has, however, made some headway in the debt markets, where it's been building its team in the region.

Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley seem the place to be if you work in Middle East M&A, taking first and second spot respectively, followed by UBS. The most impressive ascension, however, is BNP Paribas, which has jumped into the top ten this year.

BNP Paribas intends to bolster headcount in its Islamic finance arm, Najmah, by 50% over two years. However, its new position is largely down to its role as primary advisor on telecoms group Zain's $11.7bn acquisition of Etisalat - by far the biggest deal in 2010.

It's doubtful, therefore, that it will indulge in much hiring until it can see a greater pipeline of deals in the region.

Here are the rankings in full: