Gulf bankers looking for targets

The state-owned funds, allocators of the state's excess investment capital, have benefited from a 20 per cent surge in crude over the past year.

They are expected to aggressively scout for deals after lying low earlier this year when protests rocked the Middle East, driving regimes out of power in Tunisia and Egypt and provoking crackdowns in Bahrain and other states.

"Most of the sovereign wealth funds in the region are very liquid and there have been few large deals in the first half," said Waleed El-Amir, Middle East North Africa investment banking head at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. "We should see volumes pick up considerably in the second half."

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the region hit a rough patch in the wake of the financial crisis as an era of leverage-led buyouts waned and several high-profile investments suffered heavy losses.

The sovereign funds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are likely to lead outbound M&A, attracting bankers who pitch everything from cash infusions into stricken financial institutions to buy-outs of football clubs and stakes in luxury carmakers.

Abu Dhabi's IPIC, with a mandate to invest in the energy sector outside the emirate, took over Spain's Cepsa in a $5bn deal earlier this year, while Qatar bought 6.16-per cent stake in Spanish utility Iberdrola SA for $3bn.

"Qatar are the big fish in the pond," said one international banker who does business with the Qatar fund.

"There are very few investors in the world today who have $30-$40bn to deploy in deals every year.

"Everyone, from ministers to diplomats, go to them pitching like investment bankers."