SICO named best investment bank in Bahrain at Global Finance World's Best Investment Banks 2025 awards
SICO BSC (c), a leading regional asset manager, broker, and investment bank, with direct presence in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, was named Best Investment Bank in Bahrain at the 2025 Global Finance World's Best Investment Banks Awards for the sixth consecutive year. The award reaffirms SICO's position as a trusted financial institution, consistently delivering strategic advisory services and executing landmark transactions that drive economic growth and capital market development in the MENA region.
SICO's Group CEO, Najla Al Shirawi, shared her pride in the continued achievements across SICO's business lines, stating: 'Being named Bahrain's Best Investment Bank for the sixth consecutive year is a testament to our unwavering commitment to excellence, innovation, and delivering meaningful value to our clients. This recognition highlights the dedication of our outstanding team and the trust our clients continue to place in us. It also reinforces our active role in leading complex, high-impact transactions across the region. We remain dedicated to shaping the investment landscape with strategic advisory services and landmark deals that create lasting impact.'
In 2024, SICO Investment Banking played a significant role in various transactions across the region. SICO successfully led the BHD 9 million initial public offering (IPO) of AlAbraaj Restaurants Group, which was oversubscribed by 2.6 times. The firm served as Co-Lead Manager for Lulu Retail's IPO on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), supporting one of the largest hypermarket chains in the Middle East as it prepared for its listing, further solidifying SICO's presence in the UAE.
It also acted as the Joint Lead Manager (JLM) and Joint Bookrunner along with regional and international banks for BBK's USD benchmark 5-year bond, yielding 6.875%, with the order book closing at approximately USD 1 billion. Moreover, SICO provided financial advisory services for the merger between Truffle Hospitality and Bahrain Family Leisure Company (BFLC).
SICO Investment Banking has built a strong reputation as a reliable and experienced advisor in Bahrain, having played a key role in several landmark transactions. Notable deals include Kuwait Finance House's cross-border acquisition of Ahli United Bank, the APM Terminals IPO—the most successful on the Bahrain Bourse in the past decade—and the National Bank of Bahrain's acquisition of Bahrain Islamic Bank.
Global Finance award winners are selected based on several criteria, including market share, number and size of deals, level of service and advice offered to clients, structuring capabilities, distribution network, efforts to address market conditions, innovation, pricing, after-market performance of underwritings, and market reputation.
About SICO
SICO is a leading regional asset manager, broker, and investment bank with USD 7.4 bn in assets under management (AUM). Today, SICO operates under a wholesale banking licence from the Central Bank of Bahrain and also oversees two wholly owned subsidiaries: an Abu Dhabi-based brokerage firm, SICO Invest, and a full-fledged capital markets services firm, SICO Capital, based in Saudi Arabia. Headquartered in the Kingdom of Bahrain with a growing regional and international presence, SICO has a well-established track record as a trusted regional bank offering a comprehensive suite of financial solutions, including asset management, brokerage, investment banking, and market making, backed by a robust and experienced research team that provides regional insight and analysis of more than 90 percent of the region's major equities. Since inception in 1995, SICO has consistently outperformed the market and developed a solid base of institutional clients. Going forward, the bank's continued growth will be guided by its commitments to strong corporate governance and developing trusting relationships with its clients. The bank will also continue to invest in its information technology capabilities and the human capital of its 150 exceptional employees.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Zawya
an hour ago
- Zawya
USD/EGP exchange rates slightly up on Thursday
Arab Finance: The trade exchange between the Egyptian pound and the USD rose on Thursday, hitting EGP 49.72 for buying and EGP 49.82 for selling at Banque Misr at 3:36 PM. The exchange rate also registered EGP 49.72 for purchasing and EGP 49.82 for selling at the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) at 2:05 PM. At the Commercial International Bank Egypt (CIB), the USD traded at EGP 49.72 for buying and EGP 49.82 for selling. © 2020-2023 Arab Finance For Information Technology. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Zawya
3 hours ago
- Zawya
Watch out for dollar FX fall more than 'de-dollarization': Mike Dolan
(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.) LONDON: Evidence of "de-dollarization" around the world remains scant, but many major investors fear a gradual drawback from U.S. assets is now inevitable and the dollar's exchange rate may have to fall further to clear the market. The debate about the U.S. dollar's dominant role in global trade, reserves and investment portfolios has smoldered for decades, but it has reached a crescendo during the turbulent first few months of President Donald Trump's second term in the White House. European Central Bank boss Christine Lagarde recently put a spotlight on this shift in market thinking, noting "highly unusual cross-asset correlations" involving simultaneous drops in the dollar, Treasuries and U.S. stocks after Trump's import tariffs announcement in April. But despite all of the de-dollarization noise, there are still no clear indications of a mass withdrawal from dollar assets at large. In fact, some investors dismiss these fears altogether given the pattern of the past 10 years. Bank of America strategist Ralph Axel argues that despite all of the speculation, the world has actually been "rapidly dollarizing" over the past decade - at least in the sense that dollar liabilities have expanded enormously. In a research report on Thursday, Axel points in particular to the growth of the so-called shadow banking system, otherwise known as "Non-Bank Financial Intermediation", or NBFI, and refers to the universe of investment funds, private credit firms and even crypto funds that exist outside the regulated banking system. All dollar liabilities are effectively "money" in the sense that they can be sold for dollar cash and are thus ultimately claims on the Federal Reserve. Some of these liabilities are direct claims, such as U.S. Treasuries, but there are a blizzard of indirect claims through uninsured deposits, mortgage and corporate debt and investment fund shares. Dollar liabilities have clearly ballooned in the past decade. The U.S. federal debt has increased four-fold in less than 10 years to some $36 trillion, while bank deposits have more than doubled to $18 trillion since 2008. And, as Axel points out, the total size of "shadow banks" has also more than doubled since 2009 to roughly $63 trillion, according to S&P Global data. While much of this expansion simply reflects asset price appreciation, Axel notes that "the NBFI system can only grow because of demand for its liabilities." The point of all this number-crunching is to undermine the simplistic de-dollarization narrative. If de-dollarization were truly accelerating then fewer, not more, U.S. liabilities could be created, whether from the government, traditional lenders or shadow banks. And the trend has clearly been the other way. "A big selling wave can move prices and exchange rates temporarily but does not de-dollarize," he wrote. "As a result, we think the de-dollarization theme is less threatening, especially given what appears to be a stronger trend of global dollarization over time." WOOD FOR THE TREES In other words, the exchange rate of the dollar can fall even if dollar assets are not contracting. A weakening exchange rate simply signals that temporary demand for dollar assets is declining and a lower dollar sticker price is needed to clear the market. "We would caution investors to not miss the dollar story for the dollar trees," the Bank of America strategist concluded, in reference to the confusion between exchange rates and the ubiquity of dollars and dollar assets. Of course, the trends of the last 10 to 15 years may have crested, and that's precisely this year's concern. Questions about the dollar exchange exposure were also raised by Deutsche Bank's currency research team this week in a deep dive into the hedging behavior of the world's big pension and insurance funds with the heaviest overseas assets holdings. They showed that Nordic, Dutch and Australian institutional funds had more than 50% of their investment portfolios invested abroad, with Japan's and Switzerland's foreign holdings also high at above 30%. They concluded that most of these investments are in the U.S. and much of the currency risk is not being hedged, meaning exposure to the U.S. dollar is likely historically high. But as these funds' hedging activity is now increasing, they reckon, it should pressure the dollar exchange rate lower. All of which raises an important, albeit circular, question. To what extent was the performance of U.S. assets exaggerated in recent years by investors assumption of an ever-rising dollar and a hedge against global shocks? And was the dollar just rising because of that outsize overseas demand for U.S. stocks and bonds? And, on the flip side, to what extent could a weakening dollar now cause demand for those assets to fall? What market pricing near mid-year suggests is that even if de-dollarization fears are overblown, the dollar's exchange rate may be a necessary safety valve. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters. (By Mike Dolan; Editing by Jamie Freed)
Web Release
6 hours ago
- Web Release
Patron Capital Secures Major Investment From Mitsubishi Estate to Accelerate European Growth and Expand Into New Subsectors
Patron Capital ('Patron'), the pan-European institutional investor focused on property-backed investments, has secured a major investment from Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd. ('MEC'), through its Mitsubishi Estate Global Partners ('MEGP') investment management business. MEGP is purchasing a majority stake in Patron, as well as providing €600 million in the form of equity commitments to Patron's funds and financing for new subsector strategies including real estate credit. Approximately 11% of Patron's capital over the past 25 years has come from Middle Eastern investors, including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations and family offices. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory consents, is part of a long-term strategic growth plan for Patron, providing new institutional backing and positioning the business positively for sustainable growth well into the future. Keith Breslauer, Patron's founder and managing director, and the team of senior partners will continue to manage Patron's operations and lead the business for the long term, retaining a significant minority equity stake. As well as new capital for growth, MEC's investment will provide Patron with access to a broader pool of investors through MEGP and support the expansion of Patron's fund and product offerings while continuing to nurture its entrepreneurial culture. Patron is targeting strategic growth areas across private European real estate markets, including in the opportunistic investing space, where it has a 26-year track record, as well as across multiple new subsectors and asset classes where recent market adjustments and structural macroeconomic trends are presenting compelling new long-term risk-adjusted opportunities. Patron's experienced senior management team and operational expertise, combined with MEC's support, enable Patron to identify and deliver on these opportunities. For example, Patron recently announced the launch of its real estate credit business, as elevated interest rates and constrained traditional lenders have created a need for private lenders with real estate expertise to fill funding gaps facing borrowers. MEGP also sees attractive long-term investment opportunities across Europe's private real estate markets and has identified Patron as an ideal partner to offer investors access to these, recognising the longevity of Patron's senior team and its exceptional track record of consistently delivering top-quartile double-digit returns across its flagship Western European opportunistic strategy. Patron works with many of the world's leading pension funds, endowments, foundations and family offices. MEC is one of Japan's largest, listed real estate developers with a market capitalisation of $23.06 billion USD (€20.22 billion EUR) as of 06 June 2025. MEC is strategically growing its MEGP real estate investment management business globally, including through its subsidiary platforms in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia-Pacific. Both firms have an agile, entrepreneurial approach and aim to deliver social benefits alongside exceptional returns. Keith Breslauer, Managing Partner and Founder of Patron Capital, said: 'In the 25 years since Patron was founded, we have worked successfully through many cycles, building a high-calibre team across Europe and using our deep relationships and skillset to access opportunities and drive market-leading returns. This significant investment from MEC, particularly as a leading property investor and developer, is a strong endorsement of our success and is the next step in our predefined growth plan to take the business to the next level and position it for sustainable, long-term growth. 'MEC has an exceptional history spanning over 130 years as a real estate developer and investor with a long-term strategic vision, goals and objectives that are aligned with ours in every way. From a focus on social impact and serving communities, to supporting people to create an entrepreneurial culture, and responding quickly to changing investment contexts, these are two organisations with shared values and proven longevity that have been built on the same approach. We are excited to work with MEC following this investment that will accelerate our growth and deliver significant benefits to our staff and investors.' Patron's current and previous funds opportunistically target distressed and undervalued investments, directly or indirectly related to property, across Western Europe. In 2024, it closed its seventh flagship fund, Patron Capital, L.P. VII ('Fund VII'), raising in excess of €970 million during a period of declining real estate private equity fundraising, with a high proportion of capital coming in the form of re-ups from Patron's longstanding investors.
