Lehman Brothers has appointed Philip Lynch, a member of the Firm’s Europe and Middle East Executive Committee and currently co-head of Equities Europe and the Middle East, as CEO for the Middle East and North Africa.
In addition, Jameel Akhrass, who has been CEO for the Middle East and Head of Middle East Investment Banking since April 2006, has been appointed as the vice-chairman of the Middle East and North Africa.
Lynch will be based in Dubai and will report to Jeremy Isaacs, CEO,Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific and Benoit Savoret, COO, Europe and the Middle East.
Lynch, a 21-year veteran of Lehman Brothers, has held several senior positions including head of Global Finance for Europe from 2004 until May 2007, and prior to this was cohead of Asia-Pacific Investment Banking.
Following Lynchs appointment, Rachid Bouzouba will become sole head of Equities for Europe and the Middle East. Bouzouba has been co-head alongside Mr. Lynch since May 2007 and prior to this was head of Equities Trading in Europe. He joined the firm in 2003 as head of Structured Trading and became head of European Derivatives Trading in 2004.
“We are witnessing strong growth across all parts of our Middle East franchise. It is critical that we have increased depth of resource to deliver the capability of the whole Firm and I am confident Philip will strengthen our client relationships with his wealth of experience,” says Isaacs.
“As a seasoned and experienced banker, with over 20 years of Middle Eastern investment banking knowledge, we look forward to Jameel’s continuing contribution towards broadening and strengthening coverage of our clients in the region,” adds Savoret.
In addition to taking the vice-chairman role, Akhrass will continue as head of Middle East Investment Banking. Under his leadership the firm has established itself in the region and has been involved in a number of landmark transactions including advising Emirates Bank on it’s $12 billion combined value merger with the National Bank of Dubai, making it the largest merger in the GCC to date, the $2 billion equivalent Dirham denominated Sharia compliant issue for the Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority, the largest Dirham denominated debt financing to date and $2.7 billion of debt capital markets financings in Qatar for RasGas II/3 and Qatar Gas Transportation Company.