- Jassim AlSane to join from Citi as co-head of investment bank
- Omar AlZaim joins as Saudi investment banking head from HSBC
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is hiring bankers from rival firms Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc as the U.S. lender seeks to expand its business in the Middle East amid a surge in deals from the region.
Jassim AlSane, a senior Citigroup banker, will join Goldman Sachs’ Dubai office in November as managing director and the co-head of investment banking operations for the Middle East and North Africa.Also, Omar AlZaim is joining the bank as an executive director and the head of investment banking for Saudi Arabia, according to a spokesman for the bank.
The hirings come as deal activity picks up in the Middle East, fueled by governments and state-owned firms looking for new ways to raise money and diversify their economies after last year’s slump in revenue from oil sales.
Mergers and acquisitions activity in the Middle East and Africa region has more than doubled this year to about $125 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, boosted by deals like a $12.4 billion stake in Saudi Aramco’s oil pipelines.
Goldman Sachs is also beginning to win new business in Abu Dhabi after it was sidelined by some of the emirate’s biggest firms about two years ago following a lawsuit by wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. to recover losses from its dealings with Malaysia’s 1MDB fund. Representatives for Citigroup and HSBC declined to comment.
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