Robert Mohamed - National Bank of Abu Dhabi Robert Mohamed is co-head of investment banking (debt and equity) at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, with primary responsibility for debt and equity capital markets client coverage of UAE/GCC corporate, public sector and government entities, and providing these clients with regional and global markets driven financing solutions. Mr Mohamed was recently appointed as the chairman of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) in the Middle East, Far

IFR: So that’ll bring more capital into that sector, interesting. And Jonathan, there was mention made earlier of project bonds, but there aren’t that many. Do you sense that there’s appetite for project bonds out there? Jonathan Segal: Yes. A lot of people are expressing surprise at why there haven’t been more project bonds. The truth is, these projects take a very long time to structure. There’s a long lead time, often 18 months to two years, even more in some cases. And the bank market was st

IFR hosted the latest in its Middle Eastern capital markets roundtable series in Dubai in June. Participants were broadly upbeat about prospects for the regional economy and capital markets. In the near term, though, there is concern about the slow pace of economic recovery and the fact that 2010 growth of 3.5% to 4% significantly lags the performance of other emerging markets. Dubai’s debt overhang is a concern, as is the piecemeal approach to restructuring. But the issues are being dealt with

IFR: I think a good place to start is with the economic situation. There are conflicting signals coming out of the Gulf. The news flow tends to be almost exclusively focused on Dubai’s debt overhang, but the regional economy is growing. Simon and Farouk, could you give us some introductory thoughts about the key issues you see for the regional economy? Where are the stresses and the strains? Simon Williams, HSBC: I think it’s been a very difficult 18 months. We had five years of exceptionally ra

IFR: Simon, do you concur with that? There are a lot of restructurings in play around the region, and there’s always talk of potential future restructurings. How seriously should we take this when looking at the overall picture? Simon Williams: I don’t think it will be difficult for Abu Dhabi entities to get access to refinancing. I think it should be relatively straightforward. I guess what I’m very aware of is the whole Gulf debt market is a relatively new phenomenon. Five or six years ago, th

IFR: So that’ll bring more capital into that sector, interesting. And Jonathan, there was mention made earlier of project bonds, but there aren’t that many. Do you sense that there’s appetite for project bonds out there? Jonathan Segal: Yes. A lot of people are expressing surprise at why there haven’t been more project bonds. The truth is, these projects take a very long time to structure. There’s a long lead time, often 18 months to two years, even more in some cases. And the bank market was st

IFR: Simon, do you concur with that? There are a lot of restructurings in play around the region, and there’s always talk of potential future restructurings. How seriously should we take this when looking at the overall picture? Simon Williams: I don’t think it will be difficult for Abu Dhabi entities to get access to refinancing. I think it should be relatively straightforward. I guess what I’m very aware of is the whole Gulf debt market is a relatively new phenomenon. Five or six years ago, th

IFR: I think a good place to start is with the economic situation. There are conflicting signals coming out of the Gulf. The news flow tends to be almost exclusively focused on Dubai’s debt overhang, but the regional economy is growing. Simon and Farouk, could you give us some introductory thoughts about the key issues you see for the regional economy? Where are the stresses and the strains? Simon Williams, HSBC: I think it’s been a very difficult 18 months. We had five years of exceptionally ra

Foreword IFR hosted the latest in its Middle Eastern capital markets roundtable series in Dubai in June. Participants were broadly upbeat about prospects for the regional economy and capital markets. In the near term, though, there is concern about the slow pace of economic recovery and the fact that 2010 growth of 3.5% to 4% significantly lags the performance of other emerging markets. Dubai’s debt overhang is a concern, as is the piecemeal approach to restructuring. But the issues are being de