MARKET OUTLOOK
A Broadly Positive Journey Ahead Looking back on 2021, Rajesh Singhi Managing Director, Regional Head of M&A and Investment Banking at Standard Chartered Bank, notes that it has been a landmark year for deals with volumes matching all of 2020 by September this year, and when looking forward into the next twelve months, he surmises that some individually unique factors that will assist some of the larger GCC economies, while other will take longer to emerge from deficit Rajesh Singhi Managing Director, Regional Head of M&A and Investment Banking at Standard Chartered Bank
D
escribe 2021 from a regional banking and finance perspective, a n d w h a t yo u fe e l was the markets’ most notable achievement.
Despite the uneven economic recovery, we have witnessed in different regions across the globe, and the supply-chain disruptions that became a common phenomenon, the industry witnessed several noticeable achievements throughout 2021.
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One of the most notable of these achievements would be how well markets recovered from the deal activity slump that took place during the peak of the COVID-19 global pandemic. 2021 has been a landmark year for the region with year-to-date September deal volumes already comparable to the full year volumes of 2020. Year-to-date Mergers and Acquisition volumes recorded c.US 70 billion dollars, almost equivalent to the whole of the year in 2020. Growth in the equity capital market is even more
Banking and Finance news in the MEA market
astonishing with equity issuance up to the third quarter of 2021, more than doubling as compared to the same period last year. Sovereign and private entities alike continue to take advantage of the high liquidity currently available with debt and equity issuances. Another noticeable achievement is the uptick in inbound mergers and acquisitions. At US 25 billion dollars year-to-date, deal volumes are close to double those of 2019. We have seen strong interest in the region from private
