Wall Street’s Moelis Bet Big on the Middle East. Now He’s Cashing In
He may be overshadowed by larger rivals in the US and Europe, but Ken Moelis's long courtship of governments in Dubai and Saudi Arabia is paying off.
Ken Moelis
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergIn a low-key second-floor office in the heart of Dubai’s bustling financial center, bankers working for Moelis & Co. are busier than ever — so much so that the firm has had to tear down walls to add desks for its expansion drive.
In the otherwise stark workplace, shelves are covered with Lucite deal tombstones featuring equity offerings and deals by Middle Eastern companies — from Saudi Arabia’s petroleum behemoth Aramco to Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. Envious rivals whisper that Moelis has turned its Middle Eastern operation into one of the bank’s biggest revenue generators per employee — no mean feat in a part of the world that's not known for big fees.