The Abu Dhabi Investment Company has hired a senior investment banker from Rothschild to build a team to give advice on cross-border investment.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Company has hired a senior investment banker from Rothschild to build a team to give advice on cross-border investment.
The company, originally created in 1977 to invest on behalf of the Abu Dhabi government, is now expanding its range of financial services, including offering investors funds focused on the Middle East and Africa and acting as an adviser for international money managers.
To extend its reach, ADIC has hired Alex Carré de Malberg as head of investment banking to lead its advisory business for M&A and capital raising. With financial turmoil lifting the cost of capital and stalling investment projects across the world, he believes investors in the Middle East will come into play as assets are reshuffled.
‘There are certain pockets of liquidity, particularly in Saudi Arabia and in the UAE, that are likely to perform an important role,’ Carré de Malberg says. ‘For example, they are well placed to take advantage of distressed situations in the Mena region, other emerging markets and even in Europe.
‘Opportunities are emerging when families and corporates reposition their portfolios. In times of crisis, you only keep parts of your business that fit your long term objectives, and you sell anything that is not synergistic.’
Carré de Malberg, who worked for over a decade at independent family-owned investment bank Rothschild, says investors often need ‘a second, non-conflicted’ opinion on cross-border situations in developed markets, alongside US or European investment banks or lending banks.
M&A activity went relatively quiet in the last half of 2008 as the global economic crisis unfolded and credit dried up, but signs are emerging that companies, family offices and private equity firms are on the hunt for acquisitions as asset valuations have fallen. For example, according to a recent survey by law firm Norton Rose of nearly 1,000 senior executives, half the companies in the Middle East and North Africa plan at least one M&A deal in 2009.