Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. announced Monday that it had hired a Bear Stearns executive to be president of its business in the Middle East and North Africa.
Fares D. Noujaim will also be the global head of sovereign wealth funds. He will be based in the Middle East and New York and report to Gregory J. Fleming, Merrill's president and chief operating officer.
Mr. Noujaim is to join Merrill Lynch from Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., where he was vice chairman of the board of directors and a member of the president's advisory committee, of which he was a former chairman.
As one of Bear Stearns' investment banking officers, Mr. Noujaim was instrumental in leading successful transactions for a number of Fortune 25 companies, particularly in the automotive and telecommunications sectors. He advised on M&A transactions valued at more than $300 billion, most recently advising Thomson on its $17 billion purchase of Reuters. He also facilitated financings totaling more than $1 trillion.
After joining Bear Stearns in 1987, Mr. Noujaim was named global head of the firm's capital markets group in 1992. Before joining Bear Stearns, he was an analyst at Goldman Sachs from 1985 to 1987.
Merrill has $1.6 trillion of client assets under management.
