J.P. Morgan celebrates 75 year presence in Saudi Arabia

At the opening event which was attended by over 170 of J.P. Morgan's clients in the region, Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said: "We are delighted to be celebrating J.P. Morgan's long standing history of serving clients in Saudi Arabia, which dates back to the 1930s. We are currently one of only a handful of global banks with a banking and securities licence in the Kingdom and our business has grown organically over many years." Ghassan Abdul Karim, CEO of the Middle East and North Africa at J.P. Morgan, said: "We will continue to invest in Saudi Arabia and the wider region where we anticipate significant growth opportunities, and remain commited to offering our clients world-class investment banking services."

Mohammad Al Tuwaijri, senior country officer for J.P. Morgan in Saudi Arabia and head of its subsidiary in Riyadh, said: "We have a tremendous heritage in Saudi Arabia and our strong local presence combined with our international product and industry expertise are essential to our client offering." J.P. Morgan's relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia dates back to the forging of the Saudi Kingdom in the early 1930s. Its heritage firm, Morgan Guaranty enjoyed access to the Middle East that no other firm could replicate and was instrumental in the creation of Aramco's financial transactions. It was also the only bank to travel regularly to Saudi Arabia after World War II, and was also closely involved in the creation of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) in the 1950s and helped reform Saudi finance.

In June 2004, J.P. Morgan was one of three institutions to receive the first-ever banking licenses issued to global banks from Saudi Arabia, reflecting the firm's long-term activity in the country. Since then, the firm has formed a local subsidiary and secured a licence from the CMA to conduct securities business in the Kingdom.

The new Riyadh office, based in Al Faisaliah Tower, King Fahd Road, is led by Mohammad Al Tuwaijri, senior country officer for J.P. Morgan in Saudi Arabia and head of the subsidiary and Faisal Ansari, who is branch manager. Faisal, who joined the firm in March from The Saudi British Bank in Riyadh and who has over 15 years of financial services experience, is also responsible for spearheading and coordinating any Islamic banking activity for J.P. Morgan's Treasury & Securities Services business.

J.P. Morgan's investment banking team in Riyadh, supported by industry and product specialists based in London, provides Saudi-based clients with investment banking solutions across the board, including debt and equity capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and global market solutions. It has consistently been involved in some of the most high profile transactions in Saudi Arabia and is recognized as a trusted advisor in the local financial community.

Over the years, J.P. Morgan has advised on a number of landmark transactions in the Kingdom including Riyadh Bank's $500m inaugural Eurobond issue and Saudi Aramco's flagship $4bn revolving credit facility. Recent transactions and mandates that the firm advised on in the Middle East include the $2.5bn IPO for Ma'aden (Saudi Arabian Mining Company), Petrochemical Industries Company's $19bn global petrochemicals joint venture with Dow Chemical (ongoing), Etisalat's $2.9bn acquisition of the third GSM license in Egypt, Dubai International Capital's $1.2bn acquisition of Almatis from Rhone Capital, advising the Government of Lebanon on the multi-billion sale of its two mobile licenses and advising Arcapita on its $1bn acquisition of Profine (HT Troplast).

Additionally, J.P. Morgan has led a number of recent significant capital markets transactions in the region including Dana Gas's $1bn convertible Sukuk offering, Nakheel's $750m convertible Sukuk offering and the $1.5bn secondary offering by Saudi Telco Mobily.