Alpen To Advise On $3bn Of GCC-India M&A Deals In 2014

Investment bank Alpen Capital expects to advise on up to $3 billion of M&A transactions in the GCC-India corridor this year, according to the company’s executive chairman.

Indian companies are increasingly eyeing the GCC for investment due to the cheaper cost of credit and energy and high quality logistics links.

“We should do anything between two to three billion dollars,” Rohit Walia told Gulf Business when questioned on M&A transactions in the corridor this year.

Planned Indian investments in the GCC in 2014 include a $950 million integrated Diammonium Phosphate manufacturing facility in Ras Al Khaimah Maritime City, being setup by Zuari Agro Chemicals Limited, a subsidiary of India’s Adventz Group.

The plant is planned to produce one million tones of fertiliser that will be shipped back to India, according to Walia, whose company is financial advisor for the project.

Other Indian transactions Alpen is advising include a facility to process rice and lentil in a JV with an Omani company as well as an Ethylene downstream petrochemicals plant, he revealed.

Overall in the region, Walia said Alpen was advising on 27 to 30 M&A transactions, of which he expects around half to conclude.

The Alpen chairman also gave an update on the progress of the bank’s independent financial advisory and asset management arm, Alpen Asset Advisors, which launched in January.

“We’re running at about $250 to $300 million dollars and I expect to hit a billion in the next six months,” he said.

Alpen’s plans in 2014 include opening two new offices, one in Abu Dhabi and the other in Riyadh, according to Walia.