Driving optimal debt restructuring and business turnaround for successful insolvency workouts

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The Financial Restructuring MENA Conference, hosted by Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), under the strategic partnership of Bankruptcy Commission Saudi Arabia, convened large corporates, family offices, MENA’s largest banks by assets and key stakeholders to address corporate insolvencies and debt restructurings in the wider MENA region from the 15th to 16th March 2023 at the ADGM Authorities Building in Abu Dhabi.

Organized by GM Events, the conference served as a platform for enabling successful restructuring solutions for large corporates and family businesses in the current market conditions while fostering effective management of non-performing asset (NPA) portfolios of MENA’s banks.

The strategic MENA conference addressed some of the most vital topics including driving business profitability and asset health for MENA’s lenders by effectively managing NPA portfolios, driving financial restructuring and business turnarounds in highly leveraged and volatile markets, and developing mature NPL sales market in MENA.

ADGM and Bankruptcy Commission Saudi Arabia delivered keynotes focusing on promoting business continuity through business conducive regulations and evolving insolvency regimes that augmented corporate restructuring. This was followed by presentations, panel discussions and onstage interviews which included discussions on the biggest insolvency workouts in the MENA region and developing a mature NPL sales market in the region.

Discussions on the second day continued to focus on driving business turnarounds in volatile markets, the challenges and opportunities in MENA’s real estate sector and an onstage analysis of the ongoing billion-dollar plus financial restructuring of Azmeel Contracting Co. and concluded with discussions focusing on preparing corporates and banks for the turbulent market ahead.

The event was attended by regulatory authorities, large corporates and family offices, commercial banks, restructuring advisories, asset managers, law firms, hedge funds and distressed market investors among other key stakeholders.

Market Overview

The hike in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve, rising inflation levels and global macro-economic situation, combined with MENA’s central banks recently ending the targeted economic support schemes  have the potential to trigger an uptick in corporate insolvencies and debt restructuring in the wider MENA region.

While MENA’s banks have exhibited remarkable resilience and stability during the entirety of the pandemic nevertheless, the current bag of challenges has the region’s banking sector on its toes, pushing them to adopt numerous proactive measures to mitigate potential downturn of events and restructure assets before these become  NPAs.

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Conference Speakers

Hamad Sayah Al Mazrouei

Hamad Sayah Al Mazrouei

Chief Executive Officer, ADGM Registration Authority, Abu Dhabi Global Market

U.A.E.

Abdullah S. Almogheerah

Abdullah S. Almogheerah

Secretary General, Bankruptcy Commission

Saudi Arabia

Balaji Prasad Natarajan

Balaji Prasad Natarajan

Group Chief Financial Officer, Binladin International Holding Group

Saudi Arabia

Naveed Kamal

Naveed Kamal

Chairman, Emerging Markets EMEA Citi

U.A.E

Abdulaziz Saad AlResais

Abdulaziz Saad AlResais

Group Chief Risk Officer, Al Rajhi Bank

Saudi Arabia

Mo Farzadi

Mo Farzadi

Business Restructuring Services Leader, PwC

U.A.E.

Khalid Mohammed Ba Shniny

Khalid Mohammed Ba Shniny

Executive Vice President, Head – Restructuring & Collections, Saudi National Bank

Saudi Arabia

Raihan Shaikh-Khaleel

Raihan Shaikh-Khaleel

Director and Chair of Restructuring Committee, NMC Healthcare,

U.K.

Matthew Wilde

Matthew Wilde

Senior Managing Director, Teneo

U.A.E

Bruce Wade

Bruce Wade

Group Chief Executive – Financial Restructuring, National Bank of Bahrain

Bahrain

Waseem Al-Sourani

Waseem Al-Sourani

General Manager, Special Assets Management, The Saudi British Bank

Saudi Arabia

Daniel Smith

Daniel Smith

Partner, Head of Asset Management, Resolute Asset Management

U.K.

Simon Charlton

Simon Charlton

Group Chief Executive Officer, Ahmad Hamad Al Gosaibi & Bros

Saudi Arabia

Ahmad Alanani

Ahmad Alanani

Chief Executive Officer, Sancta Capital

U.A.E.

Khalid Anib

Khalid Anib

Chief Executive Officer, Abu Dhabi National Hotels,

U.A.E

Hamed Khan

Hamed Khan

Head of Debt Restructuring, Banque Saudi Fransi

Saudi Arabia

Polina Lyadnova

Polina Lyadnova

Partner – Finance & Restructuring, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP,

U.K.

Matti Kasi

Matti Kasi

Director, Turnaround & Restructuing, AlixPartners,

U.A.E.

Dr. Eyad Reda

Dr. Eyad Reda

Managing Partner, Eyad Reda Law Firm

Saudi Arabia

Sameh Gamil Sawiris

Sameh Gamil Sawiris

Head of Remedial & Special Assets, Doha Bank,

Qatar

Pietro Castronovo

Pietro Castronovo

Partner, Oliver Wyman,

U.A.E.

Ziad Daoud

Ziad Daoud

Chief Emerging Market Economist Bloomberg,

U.A.E.

Thomas Bullock

Thomas Bullock

Director, Deloitte,

U.A.E

Bruno Navarro

Bruno Navarro

Managing Director, Ipso Facto Ltd

U.A.E.

Umera Ali

Umera Ali

Partner – Banking & Finance, Dentons,

U.A.E.

Hisham Ashour

Hisham Ashour

Chief Restructuring Officer, Azmeel Contracting Co.

Saudi Arabia

Mohammed Ajmal

Mohammed Ajmal

Group Chief Financial Officer, Azmeel Contracting Co.

Saudi Arabia

Michael Rainey

Michael Rainey

Partner, King & Spalding,

U.A.E.

Waleed Alkhaldi

Waleed Alkhaldi

Bankruptcy Trustee,

Saudi Arabia

Richard Fleming

Richard Fleming

Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal,

U.K.

Ahmed M Jannah

Ahmed M Jannah

Head of Corporate Recovery & Litigation, The Saudi British Bank

Saudi Arabia

Ardil Salem

Ardil Salem

Partner, Hogan Lovells International LLP

U.K.

Elie Fakhoury

Elie Fakhoury

Senior Managing Director, Teneo

U.A.E

Riaz Mohamed

Riaz Mohamed

Head of Financial Restructuring, Kuwait Finance House

Bahrain

Alastair Goldrein

Alastair Goldrein

Partner, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP,

U.K.

Andrew Dale

Andrew Dale

Head of Restructuring Syndications, The Saudi British Bank

Saudi Arabia

Dominic Ayliffe

Dominic Ayliffe

Associate Managing Director, Global Restructuring Advisory, Kroll,

U.A.E.

Amir Ahmad

Amir Ahmad

Partner – Financial Industry Group, Reed Smith

U.A.E.

Michael Grant

Michael Grant

Chief Restructuring Officer, Drake & Scull International PJSC, Partner

Joan Joseph

Joan Joseph

Managing Partner, Mayfield Capital

U.A.E.

Husain Abdulkarim Shaker

Husain Abdulkarim Shaker

Financial Restructuring Manager, National Bank of Bahrain

Bahrain

Alex Dooler

Alex Dooler

Senior Reporter, Debtwire

U.A.E

Raja Tanzeel Khalid Banwa

Raja Tanzeel Khalid Banwa

Head of Financial Restructuring & Remedial, Emirates Islamic Bank,

U.A.E

Haroon Ahmed

Haroon Ahmed

Partner – Restructuring Advisory, Grant Thornton

U.A.E

Organisations Attended

Why Attend ?

Hear from current corporate restructuring cases

in the region on their roadmap, challenges and strategies being deployed

Listen to the most recent corporate restructuring success stories

to find out optimal strategies and solutions deployed

Hear from world-class restructuring advisories

and consultants on best practices in achieving successful workouts


Find out how MENA banks

can manage and minimize their special assets portfolio 

Understand the conducive legal insolvency framework

in place to support your business through difficult times

Who Will Attend ?

Agenda

  • Wednesday - 15 March 2023
  • Thursday - 16 March 2023

08:00

Registration & morning coffee

09:05

Opening remarks by the conference chairman

09:15

Keynote address: Promoting business continuity in challenging times via business conducive regulations

Speaker

09:30

Keynote address: Evolution of insolvency regimes and collaboration of the regulatory, legislative, and judicial systems to facilitate corporate restructuring

  • Assessing the adequacy and maturity of the insolvency framework to cater to potential increase in insolvencies in fluctuating markets
  • How can the region’s governments further strengthen and improve insolvency and bankruptcy laws and environment – Regional and international best practices
  • Reformations in judicial framework and the court’s strategic role
  • A look at the business conducive regulations offered by various freezones and their integral role in the successful resolution of some of MENA’s mega cases in the recent past
Panelists

09:45

Presentation: Assessing the macro economy and global events, and impact on MENA’s economies

  • Reviewing the impact of Fed’s hike in interest rates, rising inflation and tightening business environment on potential spike in insolvencies in the region
  • Addressing the challenge of liquidity constraints on family offices and large and mid-market corporates caused by rising cost of borrowing
  • How well developed are the region’s insolvency regimes to adequately cater to potential spike in insolvencies from volatile market conditions?
  • Understanding the impact of unresolved mega cases on MENA’s major economies
Speakers

10:00

C-suite Panel: Keeping the NPL portfolios in check amidst fluctuating markets and potential rise in corporate causalities: Lenders’ perspective

  • Implementing effective strategies to reduce rise in bad loans in current volatile market conditions
  • Enabling coherent and coordinated approach between the various lenders for reaching successful debt restructuring solutions with clients
  • Clearing off balance sheet with sales of NPA portfolios and assessing available solutions for the GCC region
  • NPL securitization – can MENA’s markets facilitate successful NPL offloading similar to the Greek and Italian model?
  • Driving effective management of complex NPLs via NPL management platforms, rapid recovery and optimizing proceeds
  • Optimizing lenders’ asset portfolio via strategic asset value creation and monetization
Moderator
Panel members

10:40

Networking coffee Break

11:20

Exclusive Interviews: Into the biggest insolvency workouts in the MENA region

  • Designing the roadmap for success – A story of stakeholder collaboration, sound insolvency regime and expert restructuring advisory that led to successful workout of a billion-dollar complex insolvency case
  • Assessing the crucial elements for successful restructuring
  • Assessing the insolvency regimes and business-conducive regulations offered by freezones in the MENA and their integral role in ensuring resolution and business continuity of cash-strapped corporates
Interview – Part 1
Host
Speakers
Interview – Part 2
Host
Speaker

12:00

Panel: Driving successful corporate restructuring in volatile markets

  • Working hand in hand with the lender: Understanding how banks and corporates can work together in situations of heightened distress to facilitate financial restructuring while ensuring it’s a win for the lenders alike
  • Best practices in achieving optimal workout solutions with conducive financing and restructuring terms to ensure business turnaround and continuity
  • Revisiting Covid-19 policy support and need for similar measures by central banks in tightening market situations
  • Maintaining asset value in volatile market situations and protecting asset owners from depreciating asset value
  • Are the region’s laws adequate to enable successful remediation – Assessing the legal framework
Moderator
Panelists

12:50

Panel: Developing a mature NPL sales market in the MENA region

  • Investment opportunities in MENA’s debt market – Reviewing the attractiveness and soundness of the region’s distressed investment market and maturity of legislations encouraging distressed investing
  • Optimizing financial stability of lenders by clearing the bad loans portfolio and addressing lack of adequate options for banks in the region
  • Assessing challenges in establishing a conducive market for NPL sales
  • Addressing buy-side challenges: What’s slowing the appetite for NPL traders in MENA
Moderator
Panelists

13:35

Closing remarks by conference chairman

13:45

Close of conference day one and networking lunch

Boardrooms

15:00 - 16:30

Boardroom session 1: Driving business profitability and optimizing asset health for MENA lenders

15:00 - 16:30

Boardroom session 2: Keys to successful corporate restructuring and business turnarounds

08:00

Registration & morning coffee

09:00

Welcome address by conference chairman

09:05

Analysing the multi-billion dollar restructuring of Indonesia’s flag carrier, Garuda Airlines

Speaker

09:25

Panel: The challenges and opportunities in MENA’s construction and real estate sector

  • Enabling business continuity of insolvent real estate companies via effective turnaround and restructuring solutions
  • Addressing the massive exposure of the region’s banks to the construction and real estate sector and clearing the bad debts
  • Delving into the imperative role of real estate regulatory authorities in strengthening the region’s property market with supportive legislations, and attracting investments into the sector
  • Addressing the massive challenges of the SME sector working alongside cash-strapped mega construction companies in the region
Moderator
Panelists

10:10

Fire-side chat: Concluding MENA’s longest running debt dispute

Host
Speaker

10:30

Networking coffee break

11:10

Exclusive industry session: The billion-dollar plus financial restructuring of Azmeel Contracting, one of GCC’s biggest construction contractors

Moderator
Panelists

12:00

  Closing panel: Are we ready for the turbulence ahead?

Moderator
Speaker
Panelists

12:50

Closing remarks by conference chairman

13:10

Close of Financial Restructuring MENA Conference and networking lunch

Boardrooms

14:30 – 16:00

Board room session 3: Converting NPAs to effective debt instruments for promoting asset sale

14:30 – 16:00

Boardroom session 4: Effective dispute resolution mechanisms for successful insolvency workouts

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If you are a restructuring advisory, law firm, distressed market investor or offer solutions enabling debt restructuring or NPL management and is interested to explore partnership opportunities, please contact us on partnerships@gmevents.ae or contact

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