Ithmaar Bank appoints new Managing Director, Private Equity

Pocock will be focusing on several of the Bank's private equity fund initiatives, including the recently announced Aldar Private Equity Fund, which has a target amount of $500m. Pocock reports directly to Ithmaar Bank CEO & Member of the Board, Michael P. Lee.

"We consider this a key appointment for Ithmaar Bank. Andrew has extensive experience in private equity, and in investment and commercial banking in the international market, including in Europe, the Americas, the Far East and the Middle East. Having worked with Andrew before at Emerging Markets Partnership (Bahrain), I am pleased that we have been able to add his experience and expertise to that of the private equity team at Ithmaar," said Lee.

Pocock, a British national and Cambridge University graduate, is a veteran investment banker, having held managerial positions in international banking and finance since 1971.

During his international career, he was an Executive Director of leading international merchant bank Samuel Montagu and Co. in London; undertook advisory assignments for the World Bank in India and China; and headed Gulf International Bank's (GIB) European business from London from 1994 to 2000, when he took up the position of GIB Head of Banking in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Pocock joined Emerging Markets Partnership (Bahrain) in 2002 as a Key Business Executive in investing and managing the US$730.5 million Islamic Development Bank Infrastructure Fund. He lead the implementation of several major investments made by the Fund, i.e. its highly successful Fund investments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's petrochemical sector, as well as a major investment in the telecom sector.

Since 2006, Pocock was Managing Director, Infrastructure at Gulf One Investment Bank. Pocock was also based in the Kingdom of Bahrain during the late 1970s, when he was CEO Middle East and Head of the Bahrain OBU Regional Branch of Scandinavian Bank (now part of SEB Group).

Pocock said: "These are very interesting times for private equity, both in the Middle East and in emerging markets in general. I will be working closely with Michael and other colleagues to strengthen further our private equity capabilities as the business line continues to grow. I look forward to helping expand Ithmaar Bank's private equity offerings and bring to the market exciting new opportunities for our client base, which includes supranationals, governments, corporations, pension funds and other institutional investors, as well as high net worth individuals."