GIB Capital LLC, the Saudi-based investment banking arm of Gulf International Bank (GIB), was recently granted three key awards by EMEA Finance magazine for their role in key transactions in 2014. GIB Capital won the “Best IPO Deal in the Middle East” award for acting as Co-Financial Advisor and Joint Lead Manager for National Commercial Bank's $6 billion initial public offering, the second-largest IPO globally in 2014 and the largest IPO ever in the Middle East. GIB Capital also won the “Best Sovereign Bond” award in the Middle East for its role as Bookrunner and Lead Manager on the $1.25 billion 30-year bond issued by the Kingdom of Bahrain, as well as the “Best Merger and Acquisition Deal” for advising the shareholders of Saudi Arabia's General Lighting Company on the sale of a 51% stake to Royal Philips. These awards follow the “Best Local Investment Bank in Bahrain” award that GIB Capital won for the year 2014. During his speech at the awards ceremony, Abdullah Al Zamil, the Chairman of GIB Capital, said: “Initiating a public offering is a milestone in the lifecycle of a company, as it adds a new layer of responsibility through public investors and as such opens the company up to ongoing scrutiny and significantly enhanced governance standards. The GIB Capital team strives to help clients through the public offering process in line with best international practices, guiding them through the due diligence process while at the same time assisting them in setting themselves up for the challenges that come with being a publicly listed company”. Khalid Al Ghamdi, Acting CEO of GIB Capital, added: “GIB Capital has a unique insight into the process of taking clients through IPOs after managing public offerings of more than $12 billion across a multitude of sectors in different regulatory jurisdictions within the GCC. This experience enables us to understand the factors and circumstances surrounding our clients and their decision to go public, and ultimately results in successful public offerings. The NCB IPO, along with the overall activity levels GIB Capital has achieved over the past few years, have placed us at the top tier of the comparative league tables.” The EMEA Finance magazine specializes in covering financial and banking developments in Europe and the Middle East, and is directed at an executive level audience. The magazine offers analysis of corporate investments, retail banking services, as well as evolving banking practices. GIB is owned by the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund owns 97.2% of GIB. Gulf International Bank (GIB) is a pan-GCC universal bank that specializes in corporate and investment banking and has a growing retail footprint. In addition to its main subsidiaries, London-based Gulf International Bank (UK) Ltd., and Riyadh-based GIB Capital LLC, it has branches in London, New York, Abu Dhabi, Dhahran, Riyadh and Jeddah with representative offices in Dubai and Beirut. — SG
