“Competitive and evolving.” That’s how Faisal Alsayrafi describes the environment for business valuation in Saudi Arabia. Alsayrafi is founder, president, and CEO of Financial Transaction House (FTH), a corporate finance advisory firm in Saudi Arabia that offers a wide range of corporate finance advisory services to a diversified client base in the Middle East. The firm’s market area includes Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman (GCC countries), and Egypt.

In an interview in the March issue of Business Valuation Update, Alsayrafi talks about the nature of the typical valuation engagement in his part of the world. “The engagements range from valuations for financial reporting, goodwill impairment to buy/sell side engagements (for business and machinery and equipment),” he says. In terms of growth areas, Alsayrafi says there is a growing interest in intellectual property and the valuation of IP assets. Also on the upswing are valuations of machinery and equipment in connection with purchase price allocations.