Lazard Asset Management (LAM) is expanding in the Middle East with a Dubai office.
The firm has hired senior professionals, who will provide investment solutions to clients in the Middle East.
Farah Foustok will serve as a managing director of LAM and senior executive officer of LAM’s new Dubai office.
Fadi Al Said, director and portfolio manager/analyst at LAM, will lead a five-person investment team that will manage MENA and frontier markets equity strategies for local and global clients.
"We have significant client relationships in the Middle East that have been established over many years, and this reflects our deepening commitment to the region," says Ashish Bhutani, chief executive officer of LAM. "The addition of these highly regarded, locally-based investment professionals, under the leadership of Farah Foustok and Fadi Al Said, will strengthen our presence in the region, expand our distribution and investment capabilities, and complement our emerging markets platform.”
Foustok will be responsible for leading the growth and development of LAM’s business in the Middle East region, which includes local investment management, as well as sales and distribution of LAM’s investment strategies. Foustok joins LAM from ING Investment Management Middle East, where she served as chief executive officer and chief investment officer. She has nearly 20 years of investment industry experience and established strong local relationships in the MENA region. Previously, she was the head of asset management at NBD Investment Bank and a senior fund manager at EFG-Hermes, responsible for managing GCC and MENA funds and portfolios.
Al Said served as head of investments and portfolio manager for ING Investment Management Middle East. He has over 14 years of investment experience in the MENA region. Previously, he was a senior fund manager at NBD Investment Bank where he managed its two flagship funds, MENA equities and GCC balanced funds. Prior to that, he served as senior vice president at Noor Capital, responsible for heading up the asset management division, senior portfolio manager at Damac Invest, and head of research at Al Jazira Bank in Saudi Arabia.
LAM has an office based in Bahrain, which opened in 2008, and has been managing assets, including Shariah-compliant mandates, for clients in the Middle East since 1992.
