Millennium and SAL. Oppenheim sign strategic cooperation agreement

The two firms will work together on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring and capital markets deals involving European and Middle East companies and institutions. The opportunities in this area are enormous, given that oil revenues from the Middle East are set to finance a $500bn wave of asset buying, including in Europe, over the next two years, according to Merrill Lynch. In addition, European businesses have shown themselves increasingly willing to enter into strategic tie-ups with Middle East companies.

"Sal. Oppenheim has been serving its clients for more than 200 years, and we look forward to working with them to deliver on the expanded geographic opportunities that this agreement offers both their clients and ours,"

said Keba Keinde, CEO of Millennium Finance Corporation.

"Because of our firm's sector focus, we bring not only emerging market expertise, but also specific industry knowledge that provides added value to each of these cross-border transactions."

The agreement is one of the first between a European-based bank and a GCC-based bank that spans the full scope of their services. The alliance brings Millennium Finance's knowledge of Middle East, African and Asian markets together with Sal. Oppenheim's long history of serving clients in the German, Swiss and Austrian markets and its strong relationships with institutions in the rest of Europe.

Dieter Pfundt, Partner of Sal. Oppenheim, said:

"Our bank is keen to expand the scope of its business in Middle East markets, and we believe that our partnership with Millennium Finance will help us to realize this objective. This partnership will enable us to provide our clients with enhanced access to one of the fastest growing regions of the world."

The two firms are already working on a number of deals, including helping a GCC-based business acquire a European company, and advising several European Fortune 100 companies on their global capital raising processes, including the possibility of tapping the tremendous liquidity in GCC markets.

While initially focusing on M&A and capital markets, the two firms will look for other opportunities to serve their clients by expanding the alliance to other areas such as brokerage.