Omair Mooraj appointed as Senior Country Officer for JPMorgan in Dubai

Mr. Mooraj joined JPMorgan as senior Middle East and Africa investment banking coverage officer and head of Islamic Banking and Origination in September 2007 from Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, where he was head of global project finance, syndication and structured finance.

Based in Dubai, he will continue to lead the firm's Islamic Banking group which is dedicated to developing new products and services that observe and respect Sharia-compliant ethical principles.

Ghassan Abdul Karim, managing director and chief executive officer of JPMorgan in the Middle East and Africa, said: "Omair is a leading player in Islamic banking and we are delighted that he will extend his responsibilities and head our business in the UAE. We are experiencing increasing demand for all aspects of JPMorgan's global business platform and Omair's appointment underlines our commitment to our clients in the region."

JPMorgan has a long-standing history of serving clients in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) dating back to the 1950s when The Chase Manhattan Bank, a forerunner of today's JPMorgan, opened an office in Beirut, Lebanon.

The firm has had a presence in Bahrain and Cairo for over 30 years and in 2006 it set up a new branch in Riyadh and in 2007 opened an office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Levant region and North Africa the firm's investment banking business has key relationships with governments, top financial institutions and corporates.

Examples of recent mandates that the firm advised on include Dubai International Capital's $1.2bn acquisition of Almatis from Rhone Capital, Arcapita's $1bn acquisition of Profine (HT Troplast), Etisalat's $2.9bn acquisition of the third GSM license in Egypt and Petrochemical Industries Company's $19bn global petrochemicals joint venture with Dow Chemical (ongoing). Additionally, JPMorgan has led a number of recent significant capital markets transactions in the region including Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group's $2.5bn Eurobond financing, SABIC's $9.2bn financing of its acquisition of GE Plastics, Dana Gas's $1bn convertible Sukuk offering and Nakheel's $750m convertible Sukuk offering.