Published: December 13, 2010
Appointment follows Barnard Jacobs Mellet acquisition.
Religare Capital Markets (RCM), the investment banking and securities business of financial services group Religare Enterprises, has named Shehzad Farid Anwar as the new head of its Middle East operations.
Farid Anwar has 16 years of experience of the Middle Eastern equity markets and brings to RMC strong relationships with sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors and banks.
He was formerly head of brokerage and investment group CLSA’s Middle East office in Dubai, having also launched BMA’s retail brokerage business and prior to that spending a decade in emerging markets equity sales.
RCM’s global head of equities, Nick Holtby, believes Farid Anwar is the right man to head its Middle East operations, an important region for the firm. “Sitting as it does at the nexus of many of the world’s key growth markets, the Middle East is a significant area of opportunity for our global emerging markets investment banking proposition. In Shehzad we have secured someone with the right experience and depth of relationships to lead our efforts to success in the region.”
Farid Anwar adds that he is joining the firm at a time when the global markets are evolving. “Increasingly investors in the Middle East are seeking a specialist partner to identify and provide access to the most dynamic emerging markets opportunities.”
This is not the only announcement RCM has made recently. In November it extended its influence into South Africa when it bought the UK operations of investment bank Barnard Jacobs Mellet in a deal reported to be worth some US$50mn. The business, which serves some 100 institutional clients, now trades under the Religare brand.
“The acquisition also secures a beachhead for our wider Africa ambitions,” RCM’s chief executive Martin Newson said at the time of the deal. “Over the coming years, we believe intra-emerging market deal flow will pick up significantly and we will be well-positioned for that.”