EFG Hermes wins Euromoney award

The magazine made the announcement at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2008 Middle East Dinner in Dubai on June 11, 2008.

At the gala event, Euromoney noted that "EFG-Hermes acted as global coordinator and joint book-runner alongside HSBC in the $823m IPO last November of real estate developer Talaat Mostafa, the largest equity listing in Egypt's history." The magazine added that "EFG-Hermes' brokerage and research are renowned throughout the Middle East."

"Coming as it did just weeks after we made history for handling simultaneous IPOs, the award is a welcome recognition of our team's hard work and of the faith placed in us by our clients,"

says Karim Awad, EFG-Hermes' Head of Investment Banking.

In May 2008, EFG-Hermes became the first investment bank in the Middle East to close simultaneous IPOs as it brought Egypt's Palm Hills Development and Maridive & Oil Services to market.

The firm was sole global coordinator and book runner for the $273m Maridive offering (which closed nearly 30 times oversubscribed) and shared duties with Goldman Sachs on the $343 Palm Hills transaction (approximately 17 times oversubscribed).

This is the sixteenth time the magazine has handed out its awards, which are widely regarded as the benchmarks for excellence in the global financial services industry. This year's Euromoney Awards for Excellence cover the period between April 1, 2007, and March 31, 2008.

The 2008 awards attracted more than 600 submissions from the world's leading banks and brokerage houses. Euromoney's dedicated research team and awards panel then rated all the submissions on both quantitative and qualitative factors including KPIs, financial ratios and innovation over the 12-month period to decide the award winners. All winners will be invited to the global awards gala scheduled for July 14, 2008, in London.

"The growth in innovation and the sophistication of the Middle East is one of the most exciting growth areas of the international capital markets," said Euromoney Magazine CEO Simon Brady. "Euromoney is delighted to be hosting its fourth annual Middle East event in Dubai, one of the world's fastest growing economies and one of the region's top financial hubs."