Based on a survey of global investors, the industry’s most prestigious ranking sees EFG Hermes Research as the top provider of MENA equity strategy, while EFG Hermes’ Consumer / Nondiscretionary vaults into runner-up slot Cairo, 25 June 2015 EFG Hermes is the only research house in the Arab world to have ranked on Institutional Investor’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Research Team for 2015. The finish on the leaderboard is the best-ever performance by a MENA research house on the industry’s most-followed ranking of sell-side analysts. Simon Kitchen and colleagues were the top-ranked MENA Equity Strategy team (up from third place last year), while Wafaa Baddour and her Consumer / Nondiscretionary team made their debut on the team list in the runner-up position for the wider EMEA region. Their performances vaulted EFG Hermes into twelfth place overall in EMEA, edging out all other regional players and several global institutions. “Institutional Investor is not just one of the oldest sell-side rankings, it is also by far the most prestigious and is followed closely by most of the institutional investors community,” noted EFG Hermes Head of Research Wael Ziada. “What is particularly remarkable, in my view, is that the twelfth-place finish that saw us edge out global majors is a ranking over the entire EMEA region despite our coverage being limited only for MENA, which means that we scored higher than all of our peers on our MENA coverage.” The rankings are based on survey responses from more than 500 global portfolio managers and buy-side analysts at 343 leading asset management firms around the world. “We’re seeing increasing demand from investors in emerging markets for the type of insightful regional research we offer,” noted Simon Kitchen EFG Hermes Head of MENA Strategies, “This has lately been driven largely by two factors: The Saudi market opening to qualified foreign investors has raised the profile of the region as a whole — people for whom MENA was previously off the map are now considering MENA opportunities because the size and liquidity of KSA have put the region on the map for them for the first time. And, secondly, it’s been nearly a year now since the UAE and Qatar helped trigger new interest when they came into the emerging markets benchmark.” Speaking of the Saudi market, which opened to qualified foreign investors with AUM of at least US$ 5 billion on 15 June, Head of Consumer & General Industries Research  Wafaa Baddour noted, “I am very delighted with this ranking, which confirms the value we offer to investors through our coverage of some of the most prominent 20 consumer stocks in the region” Added Hatem Alaa, lead analyst on the EFG Hermes Research consumer team: “We have seen new listings drive interest in both Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the past two years. Consumer and retail plays are both defensive and growth sectors in the MENA region, and has been one of the key sectors attracting foreign institutional investors. We have worked very hard to bring the best ideas to our clients, so it is exceptionally gratifying to receive their vote of confidence.” Concluded Ziada: “We’re honored to be the top-ranked MENA research house on the Institutional Investor list — and we’re well-aware that rising global interest in our region with continued competition, particularly from global institutions. Our track record, the excellence of our core product, our on-the-ground presence across the region, and our unrivalled access events will see us remain the provider of choice for sophisticated institutions who demand unbiased, quality insights.” EFG Hermes’ access events includes the largest MENA-focused investor conference globally in Dubai and the largest held annually in London.