Professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal has welcomed our friend Abdalla ElEbiary (Bio) as managing director for sovereign advisory, the firm said yesterday in a statement. He will be based in Dubai. ElEbiary, who has 30-years of experience working with sovereign wealth funds, private equity, investment banking, and corporate finance, will support the firm’s sovereign advisory services that it provides to governments, state-owned companies, sovereign wealth funds, central banks, and multilateral development banks.

ElEbiary was the first chief investment officer of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, where he helped close more than 23 investments in sectors including infrastructure, banking, education, healthcare, and real estate, and helped lead sales of state-owned enterprises that collectively brought in USD 5 bn. He is also past chair of the Egyptian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association and was managing director at Qalaa Holdings, where he served for 14 years.

Alvarez & Marsal noted ElEbiary’s proven experience advising on a range of issues including “investment, the restructuring and IPO of state-owned enterprises, promotion of FDI, and interfacing with DFIs (such as the IMF, IFC, and EBRD) as well as international equity and sovereign debt investors.”

The firm recently opened a sovereign wealth fund advisory unit in Dubai, ElEbirary told Asharq Business in an interview (watch, runtime: 6:38). The firm will focus on established sovereign funds seeking to diversify their assets, funds aiming to optimize operations and returns, central banks, international and regional development banks, as well as advising countries on establishing funds for enhanced returns.

The new unit comes on the heels of A&M opening up its regional HQ in Riyadh about a week ago.

Hayah Ins. appointed Salama Salah as chairman of its board of directors, it said in an ADXdisclosure (pdf). Marwan Ibrahim Nasser Abdullah was tapped as vice chairman.

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