Cairo – Mubasher: A top official from EFG Hermes said Tuesday that his company was working on a $500 million merger and acquisition (M&A) deal in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking to Reuters, EFG Hermes’ head of investment banking Mohammed Fahmi projected that more M&A deals would come to light in Saudi Arabia this year, particularly the private sector.

The Egypt-based investment bank is also advising on an initial public offering (IPO) in the kingdom, the top official noted, but declined to give additional details about this IPO.

“Saudi I think will be very busy,” Fahmi stated on the sidelines of EFG Hermes’ investment conference in Dubai. “I’m seeing a lot of RFPs (request for proposals) coming from Saudi for IPOs... Private sector companies looking to go public, which I think is a valuable thing,” he explained.

Saudi Arabia has been working hard to attract foreign investments to support its economy and as part of its ambitious Vision 2030, through which it has been trying to diversify its economy away from its heavy reliance on oil resources. The kingdom is close to being included on the FTSE Russell emerging markets index in March, a move that is forecast to attract billions of dollars in foreign fund flows.

It is worth noting that EFG Hermes is taking part in the potential $1 billion listing of Fawaz Alhokair Group’s Arabian Centers Company, which is projected to take place sometime in the second quarter of 2019, according to a previous Reuters report. EFG Hermes has declined to comment on its role this mega IPO.

In December, an EFG Hermes official told Reuters that the firm was working on an M&A deal in Saudi’s healthcare sector.

Fahmi also told the news agency that his company was conducting a number of deals in the automotive, banking, and facilities management sectors in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, whereas in its home country Egypt, EFG Hermes was working on a “potential” $300 million IPO slated for the Q4-19.

Along with Citigroup, the investment bank is also working on an IPO for state-owned Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling, which may be carried out in Q2-19, EFG Hermes co-CEO Mohamed Ebeid told Reuters. EFG Hermes is also handling several IPOs for a number of private firms in Egypt, mostly in the industrial sector, Ebeid added.

On Monday, EFG Hermes’ CEO Karim Awad told Bloomberg that his company was looking to expand its footprint in emerging markets including South East Asia, noting that the investment would not be sizeable but would involve “building market share from the ground up.”

In July, EFG-Hermes acquired Nigeria-based Primera Africa Securities Ltd as part of its Africa expansion strategy.