Cyril Lincoln

Head - Real Estate, Investment Banking Group – ADCB

Cyril was born in Durban, South Africa, has over 25 years real estate banking and finance industry experience. During his career Cyril has arranged and structured real estate finance in South Africa, numerous African Countries, and UAE. Cyril has financed deals in the hospitality, commercial (retail shopping centres and offices) and residential housing sectors.

Cyril joined ADCB Investment Banking Group in 2007 and has played a leading role in advising, structuring, arranging and providing syndicated loan finance for leading UAE Property Investors and Developers such as, Investment Corporation of Dubai, Atlantis Dubai, Dubai Holdings, Jumeirah Group, Meraas Developments, Aldar Properties, Gulf Related and numerous HNW Private Investors from UAE.

Prior to joining ADCB he was General Manager ABSA Commercial Property Finance and Director Head of Commercial Property Finance for Barclays Bank Plc, Africa and Middle East, based in Johannesburg, where he arranged and structured all aspects of real estate finance, including property development finance and lease discounting structured finance.

Cyril has a B Com from the University of Natal, South Africa and has completed the Leadership Program from GIBS South Africa. Cyril has given numerous workshops and talks on real estate financing and structured finance.

PERSONAL INTERESTS

An avid reader, he enjoys travel, meeting new people, spending time outdoors, theatre, gastronomy and photography.

PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT

General Manager Absa Commercial Property Finance - Johannesburg Director - Head of Property Finance Barclays Africa and Middle East, Barclays Bank Plc Property Finance Product Manager – Citibank N.A. Johannesburg Regional Manager – Commercial Property Finance – RMB / FirstRand Bank Durban

Amro Nahas

Partner & Managing Director – Ritz Banc Group

Since January 2020 Mr. Nahas holds the position of Partner and Managing Director of RBG Holding. He is also an advisor and Investment Committee Member of the State Properties General Authority of Saudi Arabia as well as a board member of MASIC Logistics and Al Romaih Industrial Commercial Group.

From July 2012 until December 2019, Mr. Nahas headed the real estate investment division of Mohammed Al Subeaei Investment Company (MASIC) and manages the local and international real estate business of the MASIC. Mr. Nahas was also a member of the investment committee of MASIC and held Board positions in MASIC Logistics and Al Fhadli Company (a JV with Aramco), both subsidiaries of MASIC that he helped incubate.

Before joining MASIC, Mr. Nahas headed Shuaa Capital Saudi Arabia’s real estate division where he managed the real estate funds and the day to day operations of the real estate division. Mr. Nahas also acted as CEO for Al Oula International. In 2010 Mr. Nahas worked as the advisor of the BOD of Amer Group in Egypt and managed its IPO process and the eventual listing on the Cairo Stock Exchange. Mr. Nahas also worked as an expert advisor with Booz & Co (current Strategy &).

Mr. Nahas joined Al Oula International after holding the position of Investment Banking Director in charge of the Real Estate sector in the MENA region at HSBC Bank Middle East. During his tenure with HSBC, Mr. Nahas led the IPO of Drake & Scull and worked on many private placements and cross border transactions. Prior to HSBC, Mr. Nahas worked at the National Investor in Abu Dhabi, Bank Audi in Lebanon, and other leading institutions. His diverse experience extends to more than 25 years of consulting, corporate investment, and investment banking across Canada and the MENA region in the real estate, finance, industrial and manufacturing sectors. His portfolio of achievements includes leading many IPOs, most notably Tamweel and Kingdom Hotel and Investments, setting up real estate development and equity funds, structuring many debt transactions in conventional and Islamic finance, and successfully accomplishing many private placements and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Nahas executed more than USD 2.5 Billions of transaction and Managed assets worth more then USD 1.5Billion.

A Lebanese/Canadian national, Mr. Nahas holds a Bachelor and a Master’s degree in engineering with a specialty in industrial management from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He also completed an executive education program at Stanford University in negotiation strategies and in finance at Harvard University.

Zain Qureshi

Head of Real Estate – Mashreq Bank

Zain Qureshi is a Managing Director in the Corporate and Investment Banking Group at Mashreq and Head of Real Estate Finance and Advisory. He established the bank’s real estate practice in 2006, which has since grown to encompass debt products, a leading trust management business, buy and sell-side advisory activities, strategic advice, restructuring and capital raising. Zain also heads the Investment and Agency Services and the Corporate Restructuring Portfolio.

Prior to joining Mashreq, Zain held senior positions at Deutsche Bank and Bank of America, where he spent significant time working on the leverage finance side based out of London.

Richard Thompson

Editorial Director – MEED

Richard Thompson is the Editorial Director of MEED. He is responsible for the content of MEED Magazine, MEED.com, MEED Projects & MEED Insights. A keen student of Middle East political and economic affairs, Richard regularly writes and contributes articles to the wider media, including Financial Times and the BBC. He is also a regular speaker on Middle East economy. Richard joined MEED as Managing Editor in February 2003. During his time at MEED, he has covered many areas of the Middle East economy including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. He was named MEED editor in April 2007 and become Editorial Director in February 2010. He has a Masters degree in International Relations, and a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering with Management Law. Prior to becoming a journalist he worked in the UK construction industry for Atkins and for Laing O’Rourke