JEDDAH, 7 January 2007 — BMG Financial Advisors (BMG), a leading provider of financial services in the Kingdom, has formed an advisory board that will assist in shaping the future of the firm and the way forward. “The board members come from various facets of the business and financial world and through their vast experience BMG hopes to tap into such know-how and grow the firm into a world-class provider of financial services,” Yara Anabtawi Abduljabbar, director of strategic planning at BMG, told Arab News. “The board will be diverse both in experience and geography. The constituents bring with them a proven track record from privatizations to mergers and acquisitions, private placements as well as industry specific knowledge that will be very valuable in BMG’s ability to add value to clients’ business,” Yara added.

Members of the advisory board include leading prominent local, regional and international names including Mohamed Naghi, chairman of M.Y. Naghi Group of Companies (KSA) and Abdulhadi Shayif, former general manager of the National Commercial Bank, both from Saudi Arabia, Dr. Ratib Al-Shalah, chairman of the Capital Market (Syria), Aladdin Saba, chairman of Beltone Financial (Egypt), Abdulaziz Al-Nabhan, chairman of Al-Ahlia Gulf Holding Co. (Kuwait), Ulrich Wiechmann, banking sector adviser and former Harvard Business School professor (USA) and Dr. Abdulhafeez Sheikh, former minister of privatization (Pakistan). During Dr. Sheikh’s tenure, Pakistan privatized 80 percent of its government owned entities.

BMG’s current business activities include advising insurance companies on their initial public offerings. BMG captured the bulk of the insurance company Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in terms of total capital of SR1.1 billion and is actively working on advising the second batch of these companies in anticipation of their license. Other activities include sizable private placement transactions in health care, finance, mining, real estate and retail.

Basil Al-Ghalayini, CEO of BMG, said: “We are growing at a healthy pace and realize that human capital as our most important asset. Therefore, we put great effort in forming the advisory board as well as attracting qualified and skilled employees from management, down to the smallest support personnel, who all play a crucial role in the business.”