Middle East IR
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The risk in silence: what the Gulf’s IR teams learned from war, volatility and uncertainty
It’s hard to imagine a more intense start to the lead role at an IR association than Reza Eftekhari has had as CEO of Dubai-headquartered Meira. Joining the Middle East’s IR association in October last year, he had just a few months of normality before the region – along with its stable, reliable capital markets – were plunged into uncertainty. ‘It’s been an eventful introduction, but in many ways it’s also reinforced exactly why organizations like us exist,’ says Eftekhari. ‘While the circumstances have been challenging, they’ve also accelerated important conversations about resilience, communication and the evolving role of IR.’…
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Meira Muscat 2025: From the role of the exchange to SWFs and debt IR
Over the past few years, the IR platform in the Middle East has been evolving quickly. Exchanges are maturing, listings are more regular and IR is moving beyond ‘results day’ toward a steadier focus on access, liquidity and clear communication. We’re seeing more structured targeting, more emphasis on guidance and capital allocation and better use of data that investors can actually work with. Sovereign funds are engaging in more targeted ways and many issuers are doing a better job of aligning the equity and debt stories. This came through clearly in Muscat. With more than 1,200 attendees in town, the…
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Guidance in the GCC: Analysts and investors favor the few (that share forward-looking metrics)
A ‘quiet transformation’ is taking place across the Gulf Cooperation Council region, but guidance remains relatively rare Across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a quiet transformation is underway – one that could reshape how companies communicate with investors and influence the broader dynamics of capital allocation. At its heart, this transformation revolves around two critical pillars: transparency and guidance. Despite their importance in fostering investor confidence, lowering capital costs and reducing market volatility, these practices remain underutilized in the region. Bloomberg data as of September 30, 2024, reveals that out of 829 actively traded companies in the GCC, only around…
