Lehman Bros., Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Countrywide Financial and Bear Stearns. These are some of Wall Street’s oldest and largest financial firms. They all have one thing in common: they have either been seized or outright gone bankrupt. The credit crunch, which began in the real estate market, has become the biggest global financial crisis in decades for the international business community, negatively affecting all global markets including those of the MENA region. However, despite slowing global growth and the meltdown in US markets, Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s largest economy and the world’s biggest oil producer, continues to register a respectable amount of IPO announcements. In September four new IPOs saw the light with a total estimated value of $1.5 billion. Meanwhile in Kuwait, the region’s largest telecom company, Zain Group has recorded the largest ever capital increase in the country’s history, raising $4.49 billion with over
