Day 1 - Tuesday 10th June 2008

08:30 Registration and morning refreshments

09:00 Chairman's opening remarks

Keith Mullin, Editor-in-chief, IFR

09:10 Gulf macroeconomic outlook for 2008

•  What does the future hold for the economies of the GCC countries: performance of core capital markets, key trends and investment opportunities
• How is the prospect of a slowdown in world economic growth likely to affect the region?
  Commodity price outlook
• Will the sub-prime problems cascade into Middle East capital markets?
• The dollar alert: have we reached the unsustainable? How will currency revaluations affect the GCC markets?
• Providing opportunities for inward investment
• Importance of sovereign ratings in the Middle East vis-à-vis regional bank and corporate ratings: strategies for improvement
• The role of Sovereign Wealth Funds in regional capital markets
• How are GCC markets generating interest among international investors?

Brad Bourland, Chief Economist, Jadwa Investment

09:45 Evolution and rise of GCC debt markets

• What steps need to be taken to boost secondary liquidity?
• Overcoming investor trust issues
• Lack of government benchmarks
• Leading companies’ diversification and global funding strategies
• Have GCC sovereign and private sector debt investment strategies and issuance plans been impacted by the global credit crunch?
• Rebalancing global capital flows: How will investor and issuer appetite for debt be affected?
• Looking into structured products within the Middle East context
• What is the balance between sukuks and conventional bonds?
• Does the Middle East need derivative instruments?
• Role, place, availability and price of syndicated bank finance: A drag on bond market development

Richard Sykes, Director, Head of Global Markets, Arab Banking Corporation
Boyd Winton, Managing Director, Head of Debt Capital Markets, Arab Banking Corporation
Ziad Awad, Managing Director of Capital Markets, MENA, Merrill Lynch

10:25 Morning refreshments

10:50 The progress of Islamic debt markets: Is it all about sukuks?

• Domestic versus international sukuk issuance - what’s needed to achieve greater uniformity?
• Sukuks have overtaken most of the Islamic finance universe so where to now?  A Euro sukuk market, a global sukuk index, hybrid, derivative, cross border, and exchangeable sukuks?
• Evolution and rise of convertible sukuks
• How to grow the sukuk secondary market?
• Sukuk issuances and ratings: effective ways of managing risk and liquidity
• What will be the impact of current debt crisis in new sukuk issues?
• Growing demand for alternative Shariah compliant products and subsequent challenges in a riba (interest) based global system: what’s cooking next?

Arul Kandasamy, Head of Islamic Financing Solutions, Barclays Capital
Yavar Moini, Executive Director, Global Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley
Geert Bossuyt, Managing Director, Head of MENA Structuring, Deutsche Bank
Issam Z. Al-Tawari, Vice Chairman-CEO, Rasameel Structured Finance Company
Mohammed Tariq, Treasurer & Head of Invesments, Islamic Development Bank

11:30 The GCC bank finance market

• What is the role of commercial banks / syndicated lending in financing growth in the region?
• Is the cost of international funds still lower than local funds - will this situation reverse, as the cost of money rises?
• How are banks positioning themselves?
• How are GCC-based investment banks growing their share of the market, and how does this affect regional dynamics?
• Which products and tools are showing the greatest promise?

Sanjay Vig, Managing Director, Alpen Capital

12:00 Lunch

13:15 New frontiers for GCC equity markets: An IPO hotbed?

•   Has the DP World offering changed the dynamics of the GCC capital markets?
• What will happen now that issuers have access to local (UAE) and regional GCC markets while simultaneously accessing international investors?
• What will be the impact of enabling access to retail investors?
• What will drive local issuers to choose between a multitude of markets, both regional and international?
• What are the challenges for UAE-incorporated companies in listing on other international exchanges and accessing international markets?
• How can the financial centres, in particular the DIFX, attract large international issuers?
• What’s the next critical step in boosting the exchange and bringing opportunities to local investors?
• What do the NASDAQ-DIFX tie-up, LSE stake and OMX deal of Borse Dubai mean for the markets?
• What’s the scope for further expansion and building up the maturity and size of the Middle East capital markets? Looking at the role of GCC authorities, regulators and Central Banks
• How to further boost investor confidence; the crucial role growing research plays in drawing institutional investors, and reducing market volatility

Anthony C Mallis, Chief Executive Officer, Securities & Investment Company B.S.C
Adam Key, Director, Equity Capital Markets, Citi UAE
Rani Selwanes, Director - Investment Banking, NBK Capital
Sanju Shishodia, Head - Equity Research, BankMuscat

13:55 IPO CASE STUDY 

Pricing strategies
Listing venues
Attracting investors
Lessons learnt - experiences from the deal

Noor Sweid, Managing Director of Strategy, Depa

14:15 Gulf equity capital markets: a wider perspective

Manish Wadhwani, Head of Capital Markets, Millennium Finance Corporation

14:45 Spurring growth in Middle East derivatives 

• Profiting from the derivatives business: strategies, opportunities, trends and outlook for the GCC countries
• Overview of the potential for Shariah compliant derivatives dealing: types of derivative products suitable for Islam
• ISDA/IIFM project overview: the pan-Islamic master agreement for Islamic cross-border OTC derivatives transactions for conventional and Islamic capital markets

Dr. Peter Warner, Policy Director, International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA)
Ijlal Alvi, CEO, International Islamic Financial Market

15:25 Afternoon refreshments 

15:50 Asset management in the region and beyond 

• Core challenges for local asset management companies
• How much is Islamic?
• Evaluating the flow of capital
• What deters investment in the region despite growing numbers of high net worth individuals, gradual economic reform and the deepening of capital markets?
• Can Islamic products boost asset management offerings?
• Why the domestic mutual fund industry has yet to take off in the Gulf, and will it?
• Where do institutional investors stand in this picture and what obstacles do they face?
• Concerns about the regulatory environment and lack of transparency
• What is the role of SWFs?

Haissam Arabi, Managing Director, Shuaa Asset Management
Daniel Smaller, Managing Director, Head of Sales and Distribution, Algebra Capital
Mahmoud Al-Khaledi, Vice President, Asset Management, United Gulf Financial Services 

16:25 Middle East investors acquiring global assets: Cross-border M & As 

• Why is surplus liquidity in the GCC being used for M&As?
• How will increased IPO activities stimulate M&A?
• The role of globalisation, consolidation and competition as key drivers to cross-border M&A
• Importance of global pressure encouraging transparency and improved regulatory framework: creating a more favourable environment for M&As
• Addressing the issues of entrenched bureaucracy and undefined investment strategies
• The potential of private equity boosting interregional M&A activities
• What are the up and coming non-oil sectors? Banking, telecommunications, manufacturing, services, pharmaceutical and retail

Hadi El Solh, MD of Investments, Depa
Kaveh Samie, Managing Director, Regional Co-Head of Equities, Middle East & North Africa

17:00 Chairman's Closing Remarks and end of Day One

 

Day 2 - Wednesday 11th June 2008

08:45 Morning refreshments

09:30 Chairman's opening remarks

09:40 Real estate investments in the Middle East

• Key government initiatives in infrastructure, privatisation and deregulation encouraging property development sector
• Funding real estate projects
• Real estate financing in an Islamic context
• Inbound and outbound investment in and from the MENA region
• Analysing local, regional and international demand vs. supply
• Are we heading for a collapse in real estate prices?
• Hotspots

 

10:20 Middle East private equity and levereage 

• How does the Gulf rate for funding and investment opportunities?
• How dependent are regional private equity firms on leveraged finance?
• The growing financial muscle and influence of sovereign funds
• Are there enough assets and attractive investment opportunities in the region for regionally focused funds?
• How do local funds perceive the entry of larger internationals in the MENA region?
• Is alternative financing affecting the traditional role of stock markets as the primary source of capital?
• How much risk is being introduced into international markets?
• The next big thing: Shariah-compliant financing schemes?
• How are leveraged buyouts being affected by the aversion to credit risk?  What are the implications on the market going forward in 2008/9?

Abrar Mir, Managing Partner, NBD Sana Capital
Richard Dallas, Managing Director, - Private Equity, Gulf Capital

11:00 Morning refreshments

11:20 Infrastructure and project financing in GCC 

•  What lies behind prospects of extraordinary levels of investment? What strong indications are there to secure a continuous surge in local markets in the future?
• Why is project financing such an attractive investment proposal in the region? High local bank market liquidity, cheap pricing, longer tenors, weak transaction structures and immaculate track record of project default
• Is there a demand to develop secondary markets and why?
• The increasing need for ratings in project finance
• Changing deal structures: are the infrastructure funds creating a more of an LBO type deal structures than the traditional or non-recourse bank models?

Fareed Mohamedi, Partner & Head, Country Strategies Group, PFC Energy
Ravi Suri, Managing Director, Head of Project Finance & Export,  Standard Chartered

12:00 Chairman's closing remarks and end of conference, followed by lunch