“Once you work on a specific energy industry, you will get to know it. You build a track record in it so the next time you pitch … it’s easier to get deals,” says Joude Badra, former deputy head of investment banking at Bemo Saudi Fransi Finance (BSFF). In March, Bemo Securitization (BSEC) and BSFF announced two private placements of debt for the amounts of $21 million and $25 million for Dubai-based regional drilling rig subcontracting company Sakson Petroleum Services Holding, which they had been contracted to secure. Each debt instrument went toward fully financing a drilling rig, one in Algeria and one in Iraq’s Kurdistan. The financiers were Lebanese banks, with the debt raised for the rig in Algeria from one single bank, and the Kurdistan rig money raised as a club deal between three banks. Sakson Petroleum Services Holding Since its 2006 founding in Egypt, Sakson saw rapid
