Dexia Asset Management, a subsidiary of the Dexia group with €103 billion ($136 billion) of assets under management at end October 2006, is ...

Dexia Asset Management, a subsidiary of the Dexia group with €103 billion ($136 billion) of assets under management at end October 2006, is extending its activities to the Middle East. "After recently opening our branches in Scandinavia and in Germany, we are confirming our strategy of expansion and our wish to grow towards the Middle East. Bahrain is an ideal platform on which to develop our regional presence," said Henri-Michel Tranchimand, a member of the executive committee at Dexia Asset Management. The new Middle East Office covers nine countries: Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf Cooperation Council, which consists of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. Firas Mallah, new head of the Middle East office, joined Dexia in 2005 to develop the potential for a growth of activity in the Middle East. Although the initial market study and the first relations with institutional clients were handled from Paris, the branch is now running with a team of four people. The move comes less than a month after Dexia Private Bank (Switzerland), another Dexia group member, opened a new representative office in Bahrain.