Middle East private equity faces slowdown, Amwal says
DUBAI, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Private equity activity in the Middle East and North Africa will slow in the next year but oil revenue will help mitigate the credit crunch, managing director of Saudi-based private equity firm Amwal AlKhaleej said on Monday.
"In the next six to 12 months, we will see a significant drop in the number and size of transactions, we may see one or two deals," Ammar al-Khudairy said on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai.
"This is for no other reason than price volatility; it's rather difficult today to put your finger on how much these companies are worth," he told Reuters.
Khudairy said the region is less exposed to the credit crunch due to its strong fundamentals, driven by high oil prices.
The company will focus its transactions on the Middle East and North region rather than the United States and Europe despite the "attractive opportunities" there as asset values fall, Khudairy said.
"We want to stay in the region that we know and where we can outperform others," he added.
He added the cost of borrowing has gone up and margins have increased between 50 percent to 100 percent since the beginning of the year.
(Reporting by Ola Galal; Editing by Thomas Atkins and Sharon Lindores)
