Rothschild’s Saudi office signals vote for Riyadh

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• Opens in King Abdullah Financial District
• Plan to double banker numbers
• Services include M&A advice

Rothschild & Co has opened an office in Saudi Arabia, giving a vote of confidence in the country’s massive economic development plans. 

The investment bank’s office in Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District will manage advisory services including mergers and acquisitions, debt advisory and restructuring and private equity. 

Nasser Al Issa, managing director of the Saudi office it would represent “a key hub for our Middle East business”. 

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The family-owned Anglo-French bank, which is headquartered in Paris and has a history going back more than 200 years, is one of the top-ranked institutions for advice on mergers and acquisitions, according to GlobalData. It played a major role in organising the bailout of Dubai by Abu Dhabi in 2009’s financial crisis.

Rothschild & Co has grown over the past three decades beyond advising on mergers and acquisitions and into wealth management, private equity and debt financing.

Last year it said it was de-listing from the Paris stock market to become entirely private. 

The bank has long maintained a large office in Dubai, with around 50 bankers, and added an Abu Dhabi office last year. Its Saudi office has seven bankers at present but will double that number in the medium term, a Rothschild spokesman said. 

The Saudi government now requires foreign companies to establish a regional headquarters inside the country for access to government contracts worth SAR1 million ($270,000) or more, part of its effort to raise annual foreign direct investment to $100 billion by 2030.