Saudi Family Algosaibi Names New Deputy CEO, CFO

Saudi Arabia’s Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Brothers (AHAB) have hired three people from accounting firm Deloitte to senior management positions, the family conglomerate said in a statement on Wednesday.

The hires are the latest from the firm’s Dubai office and adds to the trend of debt-laden Gulf family businesses hiring globally-experienced professionals to lead their recovery.

Algosaibi hit the news in 2009 when the collapse of its Bahraini unit, The International Banking Corporation, and Awal Bank, owned by Maan al-Sanea, the Saudi billionaire head of the Saad Group, left more than 100 banks, including Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Societe Generale, owed an estimated $22 billion.

Since then, the Algosaibi family and al-Sanea have faced off in courts in New York, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, London, the Cayman Islands and Geneva.

The Algosaibi family claims al-Sanea, who married into the family 30 years ago, defrauded it of billions of dollars after he was put in charge of its financial businesses. Al-Sanea and the Saad Group have denied the allegations.

In Wednesday’s statement, Algosaibi said it had appointed Simon Charlton as chief restructuring officer and acting chief executive officer for AHAB. Charlton had been working with AHAB since 2009 as a senior financial adviser.

Charlton is joined by two members of the Deloitte team who had already been working with AHAB – Ben Jones as chief financial officer and Raef El Hassan as deputy CFO – the statement added.

Dubai International Capital, which restructured $2.5 billion in debts last year, hired five Deloitte employees in April. The team, headed by Richard Clarke, would help manage the investment firm’s assets.

Abu Dhabi family conglomerate Al Jaber Group, in the midst of a $4.5 billion debt restructuring, has also appointed Western executives to top positions.

Richard Hollands joined Al Jaber in November 2011 as CFO from an Emirates airline unit, before resigning earlier this year, and David Nelson joined as CEO at the end of 2012.