Dubai : Arqaam Capital Ltd, a Dubai-based investment bank, will start an equity research unit that may hire as many as 100 analysts in three years to meet demand for Middle East research, its chief executive officer said.
Arqaam, whose businesses include equities brokerage, equity derivatives and corporate finance, will open the research unit in Beirut, Lebanon, covering some 300 companies in the region with a market value of more than $500 million (Dh1.8 billion), Riad Meliti said in a phone interview.
"One of the key issues in the market is data aggregation, and we are going to focus a great deal on aggregating data from across the region," Meliti said.
Arqaam, which is three years old and operates from the Dubai International Financial Centre, has seen volumes at its brokerage business grow by 40 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the past 12 months, Meliti said. The increase was spurred by Arqaam's focus on institutional clients, he said.
Gulf Arab stock markets have risen in the past 12 months as the prospects of global economic growth improved, oil prices climbed and governments in the region boosted investments. The Bloomberg index of the region's biggest 200 stocks has advanced 11 per cent in the past 12 months, with Dubai's Financial Market General Index climbing 3 per cent.
A number of Middle East share indexes "will sooner or later be included in the emerging market indexes," which will boost the inflow of global equity funds to Middle East markets, Meliti said. "As a firm we are positioning ourselves for the continued growth of the institutional participation" in equity markets.
