A Kuwaiti shaikh is seeking $21.4 million (Dh78.6 million) in allegedly unpaid fees from Swiss investment bank UBS AG after he lobbied to make the bank lead adviser on one of the largest Middle Eastern acquisition deals in recent years, according to claims in Dubai International Financial Centre court filings.
Shaikh Mesha'al Jarah Al Sabah, who the documents say was assistant undersecretary in Kuwait's Ministry of Interior in charge of state security between 1995 and 2002, is suing UBS's DIFC branch claiming he was not paid for helping the bank secure a mandate for the sale in 2010 of the African assets of Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co, better known as Zain.
UBS was ultimately paid around $60 million for its work as an adviser to Zain, according to a statement of claim posted on the courts' website. The deal saw Zain Africa sold to India's Bharti Airtel for an enterprise value of $10.7 billion in June 2010.
Sounds entirely accurate. UBS has a long track record of reneging on its promises and Vice Chairman (aka demoted to non-executive position) Omar Al Salehi would have been using every tool available to him to try to swing the Zain mandate. Shame it will take a court case to finally work Salehi has no depth and lands the bank in trouble with his loose talk
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