MIDDLE EAST MOLE: Time to put your feet up for the rest of the year

As of last Thursday, the GCC effectively completed its last stretch of any semblance of real work for the rest of the year, the roughly 5-week period between Eid al-Fitr (which marks the end of Ramadan) and Eid al-Adha.

Everyone, from bankers trying to wrap up advisory and capital markets mandates, to sales and trading teams pushing hard their securities, to asset managers allocating the last bits of capital to principal investors rushing to agree sales and purchase agreements, the past few weeks have been a beehive of activity.

There's an obvious motivation, though - enlarging bonus pools at investment banks or bagging a deal which would otherwise spill over to next year and cost up to 3 months in delays. Trophy deals, such as the acquisition of Harrod's or the restructuring of Dubai World will be shelved, with little else in the pipeline to be announced this side of Christmas.

A lot has happened in this period, form publicised hires (Apoorva Shah as Standard Chartered's new M&A MD, for example), the frenzied game of musical chairs wealth bankers have played to the hiring frenzies at BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered, Barclays and RBS.

Blackstone opened an office in Dubai (and presumably hoping it does not go the same way other big Western buyout firms have gone), Sarasin opened up in Abu Dhabi and David Rubenstein told us what PE will look like going forward when he was visiting the UAE this month.

Another area of excitement has been deal flow, with DP World announcing a $5bn bond program, GGICO attempting to join the big leagues with a USD benchmark bond, Etisalat bidding almost $12bn for half of Zain and subsequently launching an $8bn bond to finance the acquisition amongst others.

However, as is the case every year, the party is now set to end rapidly. This week, all the expats (and several locals) have packed their bags for 10 days of bliss (including myself, writing to you from a very remote island in Thailand).

Those sticking around will not be doing much, as none of the key decision makers ever have any intention of working during Eid even if they are around. Upon everyone's return, we will then have two weeks in which to wrap up loose ends, sell some securities or hatch new for next years - but that's it.

What with national days coming up in December (UAE 2nd, Qatar 18th and Bahrain 16th), Al-Hijra (7 December) and Ashoura (16 December), the first half of December will only see interrupted lazy work weeks before leading to the holidays season.

So, for those of you hoping to achieve anything meaningful in what's left of the year, make the most of what little working time you have to get it done and use the considerable dead periods coming up to position yourself, your organisation and your transactions in the best possible light for next year. It will be here before you know it and you will be glad you have a plan for what is set to be a very uncertain 12 months.

Jamal Bahir (a pseudonym) is seasoned senior private equity and investment management industry veteran based in the Middle East and Europe. He is an advisor to several ruling and trading families from the Middle East, as well as select European governments and private equity funds, advising on their investment, financial and regional political strategy. The author may be reached on jamal.bahir@gmail.com.