HSBC names Anshul Gupta M&A head for MENA: Memo

HSBC Holdings has named Anshul Gupta as its head of mergers and acquisitions business for the Middle East and North Africa, replacing Omar Mehanna, who is taking a new role at the British bank's Saudi Arabian affiliate.

Gupta, who joined HSBC in 2005, is currently a managing director in the bank's corporate sector group and will remain responsible for that coverage along with his new role, the bank said in an internal memorandum seen by Reuters.

In his new role, Gupta will report to Paul Skelton, regional head of global banking and Alain Renaud, the bank's global head of M&A and co-head for its corporate finance business globally.

Mehanna is relocating to Riyadh as chief strategy officer for Saudi British Bank <1060.SE>, a lender 40 percent owned by HSBC. Mehanna has advised on several deals in the region, including the takeover by France Telecom of Egypt's Mobinil in 2012.

The appointments are effective on June 1, 2013, the memo stated.

M&A activity in the region is showing signs of revival after the global financial crisis hit investor sentiment and increased valuation disagreements between buyers and sellers.

Transactions with Middle Eastern targets reached $20 billion during 2012, double the activity seen in 2011, according to Thomson Reuters data. Fees from advising clients totaled $157.9 million, a 23 percent increase.

HSBC was an adviser to the Goodman Group on its recent $450 million acquisition of some of DP World's Asian assets, and also advised oil giant Saudi Aramco on the $1.3 billion sale of its marine unit last year.

In February another British bank, Standard Chartered , hired Tom Emmet, previously with Royal Bank of Scotland , to head its M&A business in MENA.

(Reporting by Dinesh Nair; Editing by Andrew Torchia)