The Middle East and North Africa, or MENA, will experience strong domestic growth in its energy, infrastructure, utilities, real estate and financial sectors, a survey into confidence and market sentiment in the region's private equity market showed. The survey, which was carried out in March and April by Arbor Square Associates for business advisory firm Deloitte, showed that confidence levels are high for long-term growth prospects in the Middle East and North Africa area. This is “largely due to the plentiful availability of capital for investment, combined with a buoyant economic climate in the region,” said Chris Ward of Deloitte's global head of corporate finance division. The survey - the first of its kind to evaluate market attitudes and expectations in the region - showed that “more needed to be done to raise the profile of the industry, which currently has more capital to deploy than investment opportunities,” Ward added. Private equity professionals who took the survey were of the opinion that new investments will mainly be driven by domestic players. It will focus on the Gulf Corporation Council, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. They also concurred that further investment opportunities would arise primarily from the energy, infrastructure, utilities, real estate and financial services sectors. Perceived industry challenges in the short-term, however, include a shortage of skilled investment professionals and restrictive foreign ownership legislation, the survey showed. “While domestic players are expected to be most active within the Middle East and North Africa region in the next 12 months, we are seeing a rising number of international private equity firms looking towards the region as a new and exciting area, rich in growth opportunities in what is still a relatively untapped market, to deploy capital,” said Neven Hendricks, regional managing partner for financial advisory services in Deloitte and Touche Middle East. “In a region which has largely escaped the wider impact of the global credit crunch, the attractiveness of the region from an investor perspective cannot be underestimated, with an economic climate ripe for conducting business in,” Hendricks said. Deloitte intends to relocate a partner-led UK Transaction Services team to the area to support the existing local Deloitte team.
