Awards for Excellence 2019
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Long considered for this top award but never quite able to clinch the prize, EFG Hermes is this year’s best investment bank in the Middle East, owing to the spectacular transformation of its business.
The Egyptian institution, whose dominance in the Egyptian equity capital markets did not spread further afield, has earned a name for itself across the region, demonstrating a breadth of ambition under CEO Karim Awad that is now bearing fruit across every division of the bank.
It is no small feat for EFG to have overtaken some of the world’s leading financial institutions, which have long been the powerhouses in the Middle East.
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Ali Khalpey |
For one, EFG has built a frontier business virtually from scratch, under the leadership of Exotix recruit Ali Khalpey, by opening offices in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya and Nigeria, all in just over a year. EFG may now spread its wings further in Asia, and perhaps even Latin America.
EFG’s sell-down of Credit Libanais, a legacy asset that had weighed it down, has also proven a judicious decision, freeing up capital to invest in growth projects.
Over the past year, EFG topped the Middle East’s equity capital markets league table, with $1 billion of deals done in an otherwise lean year.
Beyond Egypt, EFG Hermes worked on its first frontier market initial public offering, with the £125 million London listing of Bangladesh-based ASA International. The bank successfully concluded the $52 million initial public offering of Dhofar Generating Company on the Muscat Securities Market, and advised on the $52 million bookbuild for Abraaj’s stake in Orascom Construction Industries, on Nasdaq Dubai.
It was busy in its home market of Egypt, too, acting, among other deals, as sole global coordinator and bookrunner on the $70 million IPO of Cairo Investment and Real Estate.
Despite difficult macroeconomic conditions over the past year, EFG shone not only in equities but in debt and M&A, too. The bank expanded its debt-raising capabilities throughout the year, concluding six transactions for a total value of $670 million. And it acted as financial adviser to oil and gas company ADES International Holding on a $450 million debt facility to support its acquisition plans.
Altogether EFG closed 19 equity, M&A and debt deals over the past year, for a total value of $2.5 billion, and built up a robust pipeline of transactions for the year ahead, proving that Egyptian investment banking is vibrant once again, and that EFG is still leader of the pack.
EFG Hermes is a worthy winner, and all the more so for having survived Egypt’s political and economic turmoil of the past decade.
