Deals

Want to Make a Gulf Dealmaker Laugh? Ask When’s the Next IPO

  • Oil price war is latest setback for bankers in region
  • Share sales by Agility, Amlak delayed in market rout
Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg
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Times are especially tough for dealmakers in the Gulf, where the currents battering global markets have converged. But a simple question did brighten a senior banker’s mood the other day: He burst out laughing when asked about his next initial public offering.

The promise that Saudi Arabia would anchor a regional investment-banking boom moved further into the distance after the crash in oil prices and the weekend arrests of senior members of the House of Saud.