The attractiveness of MENA markets, reflecting the region’s strong fundamentals and strategies to capitalize on their growth, came to the fore at Credit Suisse’s first annual Equities Conference held in Beirut this week.
The conference, which brought together speakers from over 40 corporates, saw significant participation from institutional investors and corporate clients. It focused on a wide range of topics, from gradually maturing equity markets and equity derivatives in the Middle East to the prospects for corporate finance activity and IPOs. Highlights included a keynote address by His Excellency Riad Salamé, Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon.
Bassam Yammine, Co-CEO of Credit Suisse in the MENA region and Head of Investment Banking & Asset Management, said, “Credit Suisse’s effort to expand presence in MENA demonstrates its confidence in the region’s long-term and sustainable growth. Our strategic view on equities is that we see positive business and earnings cycles emerging as the dominant influence on markets this year, although this will be periodically interrupted by concerns over country indebtedness.”
Guy Rigden, Co-Head Emerging Europe, Middle East, Africa Equities, based in London, said, “MENA markets offer sizeable opportunities given attractive valuations, long-term positive outlook, expansionary fiscal policies and favorable demographics.” He added, “We are seeing strong interest from our international clients in the MENA growth story.”
The conference featured presentations and one-on-one corporate meetings, which covered a number of interesting viewpoints on the outlook for MENA equities against the backdrop of volatility, solid government finances, roll of foreign investors and the Eurozone turmoil.
