(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS). hired JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM).’s Mohammed Nazer to join its investment banking team in Saudi Arabia, according to people familiar with the matter.
Nazer will relocate to the kingdom from the U.S. where he’s currently based, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. His appointment follows the departure of executive director Omar Abu Innab, who covered Saudi Arabia from Goldman Sachs’ regional headquarters in Dubai, some of the people said.
A spokesman for Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
Goldman Sachs has been building its presence in Saudi Arabia, boosting headcount, securing a stock-trading license and getting involved in key deals including the kingdom’s first euro-denominated bond sale.
The bank wants to make sure it’s well placed to take advantage as the nation diversifies its economy away from oil and opens up to foreign investment. As part of these plans, it’s privatizing state-owned firms and transforming its sovereign wealth fund into one of the world’s biggest.
Mergers and acquisitions in Saudi Arabia rose to about $12 billion in 2018, the highest level for at least a decade, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs was the third top M&A adviser in the kingdom that year and was among banks that worked on Arabian Centres Co.’s $659 million initial public offering in May, the nation’s biggest listing since 2015.
In neighboring Abu Dhabi, Mubadala Investment Co. halted new business with Goldman Sachs in March, adding to the growing fallout for the bank from its role in the 1MDB corruption scandal. The decision followed legal action being pursued by units of Mubadala to seek damages from the bank for what it calls Goldman Sachs’ "central role" in the 1MDB scandal.