Shuaa Capital has been named “Best Equity House in the UAE” by pre-eminent international finance magazine Euromoney. The awards were presented at the 2007 Euromoney Awards for Excellence Middle East Dinner in Abu Dhabi last night. In awarding Shuaa Capital the award for “Best Equity House in the UAE” Euromoney recognized that Shuaa has lead all three of the corporate IPOs in the UAE capital markets over the past 12 months, raising over US$ 1.7bn for Air Arabia, Deyaar & Gulf Navigation. Euromoney was particularly impressed with Shuaa’s activities in a market that has been going through a consolidation period. Iyad Duwaji, SHUAA Capital’s Chief Executive Officer, said “We are indeed proud to be the recipients of this prestigious award, the second for SHUAA Capital in three years time, and I thank Euromoney for their vote of confidence. This award comes as a testament to our contribution to the regional financial industry sector, and in recognition of the leading position our Company has managed to carve for itself through leadership, expertise, knowledge and dedication to achieve superior returns to our clients and bring distinguished products and offerings to the market.” Regarded as the benchmark awards for financial services globally, the Euromoney Awards for Excellence are now in their 15th consecutive year. This year’s awards process, which began in March, attracted over 100 submissions from the region’s banks and brokerage houses competing for the 25 awards that Euromoney presented. Euromoney’s dedicated research team and awards panel then rated all the submissions on both quantitative and qualitative factors such as KPI’s, financial ratios and innovation over the 12 month period to decide the award winners. “The fast pace of growth, innovation and sophistication of the Middle East makes the region one of the most exciting areas of the international capital markets. Euromoney is delighted to be hosting its third annual event in Abu Dhabi, one of the world’s fastest growing cities and a regional hub for industry, commerce and finance." said Euromoney Magazine CEO Simon Brady. Other winners that were announced included Ahli United Bank wining the regional “Best Bank in the Middle East” award, Bank Audi for ”Best Bank in Lebanon” and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank scooping “Best Bank in the UAE”. The final accolade of the evening was the QFC Euromoney Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Financial Services in the Middle East which was presented to Sulaiman Abdel Aziz Al-Rajhi.