Morgan Stanley establishes research team in Dubai

This forms part of Morgan Stanley's continued expansion in the region following the official opening of its office in the Dubai International Financial Center in March 2006.

The team will be lead by Sean Gardiner, who has been with the firm since 2000 and currently heads up the Europe Middle East & Africa (EMEA) telecom research team. Sean will be relocating from London to Dubai and will continue to cover EMEA telecoms. He will be joined by three new hires, Mai Attia, Marwa el Sheikh and Tammam el Barbir.

Mai Attia joins Morgan Stanley as a Vice President and will cover stocks in the construction, building materials and real estate sector across the MENA region. Mai has covered the sector since July 2000 and last worked at EFG in Egypt.

Marwa el Sheikh, Vice President joins the firm from Citi to cover financial companies across the region. Previously, she worked at EFG Hermes in Cairo and Dubai and has covered Egyptian, Kuwaiti and UAE banks.

Tammam el Barbir joins from EFG Hermes investment banking and will also cover financial stocks. Previously, he worked in equity research for EFG Hermes covering the Saudi, Omani and UAE banks.

Commenting on the new hires, Sean Gardiner, head of MENA Research said, "We are delighted to be establishing a research platform in Dubai and we look forward to delivering high quality content in an exciting new growth region for the firm."
Dr Georges Makhoul, Morgan Stanley's President for the MENA region commented, "the creation of this research platform in Dubai is further evidence of our commitment to offer the full scope of Morgan Stanley's businesses to our clients in the region."