Societe Generale has strengthened its presence in the Middle East by establishing a structured finance platform at its hub in Dubai, UAE. 

The platform brings expertise from the bank’s global franchises to the region, adding specialists in project finance, export finance, asset finance and debt capital markets on the ground in order to further meet the growing demand from the region.

“The expectation for lower oil prices in the medium term is creating a significant need for external funding, whether from banks or from capital markets,” says Richad Soundardjee, Societe Generale Chief Executive Officer, Middle East. “Societe Generale is a global structured finance house that has the capacity to meet those needs in the Middle East. With this new platform, we are even more relevant as our local pool of specialists can originate and execute transactions on the ground in close and regular contact with our clients, working hand in hand with our coverage bankers and our expert teams in London and Paris.”

The team will be spearheaded by:

• Charles Emmanuel de Beauregard – Director, Structured Finance, responsible for export, infrastructure and asset-based finance, who relocates from the bank’s Paris headquarters where he focused on originating export finance transactions in the Middle East;

• Cem Orekli – Director, Natural Resources, who has more than 14 years’ experience in energy finance, both in advisory and lending roles, and rejoins the bank after having held senior roles in natural resources activities at ING Bank N.V. and most recently UniCredit Bank AG in London;

• Karim El Zein – Vice President, Debt Capital Markets, who joins from Credit Suisse in London, where he originated and executed DCM transactions for corporates, financials and sovereigns in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa.

This new platform complements the historical presence of coverage, global markets and private banking in the region. This investment is an integral part of the bank’s ambition to become a partner of choice for regional corporates, financial institutions, and sovereigns in its areas of global expertise. The group's growth strategy for the region, as per its five-year development plan launched in 2014, will continue to translate into the allocation of further capital and specialised teams in the Middle East going forward.