Bloomberg
London
Goldman Sachs Group, which generated one-third of its profit from trading last year, is restarting Middle East and North Africa (Mena) equity sales in Dubai, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The fifth-largest US bank by assets is hiring Veer Ramlugon as part of the plans, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter isn’t public.
Ramlugon, who declined to comment when contacted by mobile phone earlier this week, previously worked in Middle East equity and equity-derivative sales at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Dubai.
Goldman Sachs is joining banks from Renaissance Capital to Arqaam Capital in expanding coverage in the Middle East and Africa as local markets rally and economic growth surges.
Dubai’s benchmark index has advanced the most among 50 of the world’s largest equity gauges this year with a gain of 23% as the UAE’s real-estate and banking industries recover from a property crash.
The UAE was raised to emerging-market status from frontier by index provider MSCI in 2013, potentially paving the way for greater foreign investment in the nation. Dubai is gearing up to host the World Expo in 2020 with $8bn of infrastructure spending.
The cost of insuring the emirate’s debt against non- payment with credit-default swaps was quoted at 189 basis points at the end of February, the least since the 187 reached in May, according to prices compiled by CMA.
Renaissance, the Russian investment bank controlled by billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, is planning to open an office in the city to take advantage of the rising demand for assets in the oil-rich region, while Dubai-based Arqaam will start trading African bonds and derivatives.