Andy Cairns has joined Houlihan Lokey, a global investment bank, as a managing director and head of Middle East and Africa, capital markets, based in Dubai. In this newly created role, he will be responsible for building and leading the firm’s capital markets business in the region, working alongside senior colleagues to deliver a full spectrum of global capital options to regional clients, and providing access to Middle Eastern capital for clients across the world.
Cairns joins with extensive investment banking experience, having led more than $750 billion of landmark M&A, loans, fixed income and equity, including sovereign financings for the UAE, Oman and Egypt and IPOs for Saudi Aramco, Mubadala and Emaar. Most recently, he was senior managing director and head of global corporate finance at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). Prior to this, Cairns was a managing director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC, where he headed businesses in New York, London and Hong Kong. He is a past chairman of The Gulf Capital Market Association.
“Our capital markets team in Europe has been significantly strengthened recently and we are delighted that Andy is now joining to spearhead our expansion into the Middle East and Africa,” Anthony Martino, global co-head of Houlihan Lokey’s capital markets group, said. “With his wealth of experience and knowledge of the region, and a shared focus on achieving outstanding outcomes for clients, he will be a hugely valuable addition to our team.”
“We are committed to bringing all of the capabilities that Houlihan Lokey excels in across our global network to our clients in this region,” Arun Reddy, head of Middle East and Africa, special situations at Houlihan Lokey, said. “Bringing on board such a high-caliber partner as Andy to build our Capital Markets team here underlines that commitment and our desire to provide clients here with bespoke solutions to all their financing requirements.”
“Houlihan Lokey has a differentiated proposition, emphasizing private capital solutions and quality, unbiased advice that puts clients at the center of what it does. I am excited to bring this approach to the Middle East and Africa, assisting both regional issuers achieve their debt and equity financing objectives and providing regional investors access to Houlihan Lokey’s international deal flow,” Cairns said.
