Crédit Agricole CIB and Kepler Cheuvreux have extended their Equity Capital Markets (ECM) partnership to encompass the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). The partnership has established a local presence for Kepler Cheuvreux in the United Arab Emirates, which will initially cover equity research and distribution in the UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as the rest of the Gulf region.

On 26 July 2024, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) granted Kepler Cheuvreux a licence to operate as an Authorised Firm to provide equity research and distribution in the United Arab Emirates. Kepler Cheuvreux has opened a new office in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) with a dedicated team of research analysts and salespeople.

Crédit Agricole CIB has a longstanding presence in MENA, with offices in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This partnership will enable Crédit Agricole CIB to strengthen its client offering in the region, with the addition of the Equity Capital Markets activities. Crédit Agricole CIB will leverage the extension of Kepler Cheuvreux’s highly rated European research expertise to the MENA region and its unique access to 1,300 investors now extended to institutional investors in the Gulf region.

“Crédit Agricole CIB’s partnership with Kepler Cheuvreux has proven to be highly successful in Europe with a number of flagship transactions. The extension allows us to further strengthen our client offering in the MENA region. We are fully committed to the success of this new initiative and are strongly convinced of the value-add we bring to MENA ECM issuers through our platform.” said Didier Gaffinel, Crédit Agricole CIB Deputy General Manager and Head of Global Coverage & Investment Banking.

“The extension of our ECM partnership with Crédit Agricole CIB allows us to respond to the strong interest from institutional investors in the MENA region where ECM activity is booming. This new step in the history of Kepler Cheuvreux demonstrates the efficiency of our model and strengthens the group’s multi-local position” stated Laurent Quirin, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Kepler Cheuvreux.

Source: Kepler Cheuvreux.