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Citi expects rapid growth in MEA investment banking biz in 2018

Citigroup Inc. is expecting rapid growth in its investment banking business in the Middle East and Africa this 2018, Reuters reported, citing Citi's MEA head of investment banking, Miguel Azevedo.

The company will likely focus on Saudi Arabia, where it was recently allowed to launch an investment banking operation. Azevedo said, however, the company is also looking at Nigeria, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to be the main growth drivers as sales in bond, common shares and mergers and acquisitions improve, the news source added.

In November 2017, Citi, along with Standard Chartered Plc, managed Nigeria's issuance of a $3 billion two-part international bond. Azevedo also noted Egypt's positive outlook after the 2016 currency devaluation and planned IPOs in the industrial, manufacturing and financial services and consumer sectors.

The Citi executive told Reuters that the market environment in the Middle East and Africa is "as good as we have seen since the global financial crisis of 2008."