Barclays’ Azar Sees Pick-Up in Middle East M&A, Fee Income - Bloomberg

Middle East merger and acquisition deals will probably rise in the next year as sovereign wealth funds look for ways to spend cash from oil sales and regional companies seek expansion, a Barclays Plc (BARC) executive said.
M&A activity is “picking up and our deal pipeline feels much better than two or three years ago,” Makram Azar, vice chairman of investment banking at Barclays, said in an interview at the bank’s Dubai offices on Aug. 30. Sovereign wealth funds “need to put their cash to work, particularly outside the region, in emerging and high growth markets or in opportunistic deals in Europe where valuations are depressed,” he said.

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