Morgan Stanley strengthens sovereign wealth fund and financial sponsor group coverage in Middle East & North Africa

The move creates the largest team of its kind in the region and underlines Morgan Stanley's commitment to serving the particular needs of SWFs and financial sponsor investors in MENA.

The three bankers are: Dennis Cornell, Hugo Parson and Hani Ramadan. They will report to David Law, Chairman of Investment Banking in MENA, who between 2004 and the beginning of 2008 ran Morgan Stanley's Financial Sponsors Group outside of the U.S.

Commenting on the new appointments, Law said: "Dennis, Hugo and Hani bring strong coverage experience and wealth of talent. They are great additions and underscore Morgan Stanley's commitment to providing superior advice and execution in transactions for the MENA region's biggest investors."

"With this team, we have the largest commitment of dedicated bankers in the region to cover sovereign wealth funds and financial sponsors," he added.

Leading the team, Cornell, 37, was previously a senior coverage banker in Morgan Stanley's Financial Sponsors Group in New York. He will be supported by Parson, 34, who previously worked in Morgan Stanley's Leveraged & Acquisition Finance Group in London, and Ramadan, 32, who comes from the Financial Sponsor Group at UBS and has been covering Middle East markets for the past two years from London and Dubai.

"Since we opened our office in the DIFC two years ago, we've seen strong growth across all parts of our franchise," said Georges Makhoul, President, Middle East & North Africa for Morgan Stanley.

"Sovereign wealth funds and financial sponsors are a strategic client segment for Morgan Stanley, and with their increasingly international investment focus, it is critical that we have the depth of resource to deliver the capability of the whole Firm."

Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 600 offices in 33 countries.