Arif Habib is a dominant force in Pakistan’s investment banking landscape, with a solid footing in debt and equity capital markets, as well as M&A advisory. While it excels across the board, it was its research franchise that impressed Euromoney the most during the awards period.
This was not just because of the team’s reach, given it covers about three-quarters of the companies on the Pakistan stock index. It’s also because of the team’s ability to stay tuned to market conditions – both domestically and internationally – and provide insights that truly explain the pulse of the market.
For instance, when investors were pricing in a possible default by the Pakistan sovereign amid an economic and financial crisis, the Arif Habib research team published reports explaining why a default was unlikely, stressing institutional investor support for the frontier market country. It also stayed in front of clients, engaged with brokers and dealers, connected with frontier market investors and boosted the research team size to cover niche sectors – all in a bid to keep its research strong and to continue giving its corporate clients access to investors and timely information.
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