SICO Named Best Investment Bank in Bahrain at Global Finance World's Best Investment Banks 2025 Awards for Sixth Consecutive Year
SICO BSC (c), a leading regional asset manager, broker, and investment bank, with direct presencein Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, was named Best Investment Bank in Bahrain at the 2025Global Finance World's Best Investment Banks Awards for the sixth consecutive year. The awardreaffirms SICO’s position as a trusted financial institution, consistently delivering strategic advisoryservices and executing landmark transactions that drive economic growth and capital marketdevelopment in the MENA region.
SICO’s Group CEO, Najla Al Shirawi, shared her pride in the continued achievements acrossSICO’s business lines, stating: “Being named Bahrain’s Best Investment Bank for the sixthconsecutive year is a testament to our unwavering commitment to excellence, innovation, anddelivering meaningful value to our clients. This recognition highlights the dedication of ouroutstanding team and the trust our clients continue to place in us. It also reinforces our active rolein leading complex, high-impact transactions across the region. We remain dedicated to shapingthe investment landscape with strategic advisory services and landmark deals that create lastingimpact.”
In 2024, SICO Investment Banking played a significant role in various transactions across the region.SICO successfully led the BHD 9 million initial public offering (IPO) of AlAbraaj Restaurants Group,which was oversubscribed by 2.6 times. The firm served as Co-Lead Manager for Lulu Retail’s IPOon the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), supporting one of the largest hypermarket chains inthe Middle East as it prepared for its listing, further solidifying SICO's presence in the UAE.It also acted as the Joint Lead Manager (JLM) and Joint Bookrunner along with regional andinternational banks for BBK’s USD benchmark 5-year bond, yielding 6.875%, with the order book closing at approximately USD 1 billion. Moreover, SICO provided financial advisory services for themerger between Truffle Hospitality and Bahrain Family Leisure Company (BFLC).
SICO Investment Banking has built a strong reputation as a reliable and experienced advisor inBahrain, having played a key role in several landmark transactions. Notable deals include KuwaitFinance House’s cross-border acquisition of Ahli United Bank, the APM Terminals IPO—the mostsuccessful on the Bahrain Bourse in the past decade—and the National Bank of Bahrain’s acquisitionof Bahrain Islamic Bank.
Global Finance award winners are selected based on several criteria, including market share,number and size of deals, level of service and advice offered to clients, structuring capabilities,distribution network, efforts to address market conditions, innovation, pricing, after-marketperformance of underwritings, and market reputation.
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