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By Dinesh Nair
DUBAI, April 23 (Reuters) - Michael Helou, a Barclays banker who headed the British lender's financialinstitutions group in the Middle East and North Africa, hasresigned from the bank, three sources aware of the matter toldReuters.
Helou was brought in by Barclays' investment banking arm,Barclays Capital, from Rothschild in 2010 to lead thedivision which advises banks and other financial institutions inthe region on mergers and acquisitions, fixed income and equitycapital markets transactions.
Dubai-based Helou left the bank few weeks ago, the sourcessaid, speaking on condition of anonymity as the matter is notpublic. Both Barclays and Helou were not immediately availableto comment on why he left and his plans for the future.
Helou originally moved to Dubai in 2006 to set upRothschild's regional office. At Barclays, he worked on severalprominent deals including Qatar Holding's 2010 purchase of astake in Santander's Brazilian unit, and Kuwaiti lenderBurgan Bank's purchase of EFG Eurobank's Turkish unit, the sources said.
He was also involved in the planned merger of Qatar's AlKhaliji Commercial Bank and International Bank of Qatar, a dealwhich stalled in 2011 after the parties failed to agree terms.
Middle Eastern deal activity has been picking up after asubdued period. Cash-rich Gulf Arab sheikhs and governments arebuying European assets, lured in part by attractive valuationsdue to weak markets.
Barclays topped the Middle Eastern M&A fee rankings forcompleted deals in 2012, according to Thomson Reuters data,raking in 9 percent of the overall fee pool in the segment.
The Middle East, home to some of the world's largestsovereign wealth funds, will be a key area for investment banksincluding Barclays in coming years, Barclays' globalvice-chairman for investment banking, Makram Azar, told Reutersin an interview last year.
