EFG Hermes Holding SAE expects to obtain an investment-banking license in Nigeria as early as this week and plans to hire five people in Lagos this year.
“We’ve got all the boxes ticked, and we are just waiting for regulatory approval,” Ali Khalpey, the chief executive officer of the Egypt-based financial services company’s frontier unit, said in Dubai. “We should receive [the authorisation] if not this week, early next week.”
EFG Hermes, the top adviser on initial public offerings in the Middle East and North Africa last year, bought Nigerian brokerage and research firm Primera Africa Securities Ltd. in July, as part of its broader African expansion. The investment bank, which obtained a stockbroking license in Kenya last year, plans to use Nigeria as a regional hub.
While EFG Hermes’ focus in 2019 will be on consolidation in recently entered markets, including those in Africa, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Khalpey sees opportunity to expand in Vietnam. The Asian country “is definitely a market we would like to have some exposure to,” he said.
Khalpey was hired in January 2017 to build EFG Hermes’ frontier-markets business.
