Cairo – Mubasher: EFG Hermes is planning to expand its debt restructuring and securitisation activities next year.

The Egyptian investment bank is working as a financial advisor in four merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in the first half of 2019, the company’s co-head of investment banking division Mostafa Gad told Reuters.

The transactions include a major M&A deal in Saudi Arabia’s healthcare sector, which is set for completion by next year, Gad added.

“We will expand our activity in arranging and restructuring debt in 2019 and we will expand securitisation starting with our own financial leasing portfolio and the market in general,” he highlighted.

H also noted that the company is also working on two initial public offerings (IPOs) for private-sector companies on the Egyptian Exchange Market (EGX) in the coming months, one in the food sector and the other in manufacturing.

Last week, CEO of EFG Hermes Karim Awad said that the firm was planning to expand into the insurance and mortgage sectors after obtaining the required regulatory approval.

The firm has been boosting its non-banking services that raised around 20% of its profit in the third quarter of 2018.

The largest investment bank in the Middle East is also seeking to foray into a new market in Asia or Africa within a year, Awad said.

The company is not planning to operate directly in Argentina in the meantime, but it has the capabilities to implement transactions there through the securities sector, the CEO added.

“Morocco is a good market, but establishing a presence there isn’t currently in our plans,” he said.

EFG Hermes previously reported a 23.7% year-on-year drop in consolidated profits for the first nine months of 2018.

Net profit retreated to EGP 767.16 million during the period starting January to September from EGP 1.005 billion in the year-ago period