HSBC Hires Ex-Perella Partner Lahham for Senior Mideast Role

(Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc has hired Nabil Lahham, a former veteran Middle East dealmaker at Perella Weinberg Partners LP, for a top investment banking role in the region, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Lahham is joining HSBC as head of advisory and corporate finance coverage for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. He will start working at the bank’s Dubai office in the coming weeks, according to the people.

The banker had most recently been a partner at Perella Weinberg, which he joined in 2010. Lahham started Perella’s Middle East business, establishing its Abu Dhabi office and later expanding to Dubai.

Lahham will report to Gareth Thomas, HSBC’s head of global banking for MENAT, and Hugo Heath, global co-head of corporate finance coverage, the people said. A representative for HSBC declined to comment on the appointment.

Banks have been flocking to the the region as its oil-rich countries seek to diversify their economies and major markets like Saudi Arabia open up their financial sectors. HSBC earned 7.6% of its operating income and 4.7% of its net revenues from the Middle East and North Africa in the quarter ended Sept. 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Local Presence

The bank’s local presence ensured it played a key role on Saudi Aramco’s record $29.4 billion IPO last year, even after other Western investment banks were sidelined. It worked on the Middle East’s biggest-ever acquisition, Aramco’s $69 billion takeover of Saudi Basic Industries Corp. HSBC was also hired by the Abu Dhabi state oil company when it sold a $5.8 billion stake in its refining unit.

Lahham started his investment banking career at Morgan Stanley and later held senior Middle East roles at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Nomura Holdings Inc. He has advised on a number of landmark deals during his career including Emirates Bank International PJSC’s merger with National Bank of Dubai PJSC in 2007, which created a lender called Emirates NBD Bank PJSC that’s now worth $23 billion.

He has worked with Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala Investment Co. on a number of deals, including the formation of a financing company with General Electric Co. He also worked on that Mubadala venture’s sale of a $3.6 billion loan portfolio to Apollo Global Management Inc.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dinesh Nair in London at dnair5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, Chris Bourke

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.