Core Team

Associate - Institute of Bankers, London (UK)

Mr. Bafarat is the Chairman of Ithmar Saudi Financial Consultancy Company (ITHMAR SAUDI). Prior to ITHMAR SAUDI, Mr. Bafarat was a founding shareholder and board member of Al Nefaei Investment Group in 2008, which was obtained the full five licenses from the CMA to operate in KSA.  

Mr. Bafarat began his banking career in 1965 by joining Citibank (later Saudi American Bank - SAMBA) in Jeddah, where he worked in all the divisions of the bank until his retirement in 2002. Between 2003 and 2014 Mr. Bafarat served as an advisor to HSBC Private Bank and JP Morgan Private Bank (Geneva, Switzerland). 

B.Sc. - Tufts University (U.S.) 
MBA - Stern School of Business, NYU (U.S.) 

More than 20 years of investment banking experience between the United States and the Middle East. Mr. Ghanem possess a broad range of skills and transactional experience which cover deal origination and execution in the full product range of Investment Banking, including IPO’s, Bond Issuances, M&A transactions, Privatizations, Restructurings and Private Placements. 

Mr. Ghanem began his investment banking career at UBS Warburg (currently UBS Investment Bank) in New York, United States, where he served as a Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group and has executed several buy–side and sell–side M&A transactions ranging in size from USD 50.0 million to USD 1.3 billion.  In 2007, Mr. Ghanem founded Ithmar Invest, which became a leading regional private investment banking firm.

BA - Imperial College (UK) 
MBA - Stanford University (U.S.) 
PhD - Imperial College (UK) 

Dr. Zeidan works with private joint stock companies as a licensed ‘Arranger’ from start to finish and until listing the client’s shares on the Parallel Market, he also manages the full range of mandates and is directly responsible for the execution and interactions with clients.  Such mandates include the full spectrum of corporate finance services such as Equity Valuations, Financial Modeling, Bond Issuances, Mergers and Acquisitions (sell-side & buy-side) and Private Placements across a range of sectors that include banking, real estate, FMCG, healthcare, IT and others.  

Dr. Zeidan has more than 10 years of investment banking experience in the Middle East and has led the execution and closing of many sizeable transactions in Jordan and the MENA region.  Dr. Zeidan is currently member of the Board of Ithmar Invest PSC and Islamic Finance House Company (Jordan). 

Prior to his MBA, he was employed as a Senior Research Scientist at Merck Chemicals (United Kingdom), where he led cutting-edge research in the semiconductor material field.

B.Sc. University of Jordan (Jordan)

B.Sc. - Tufts University (U.S.) 
MBA - Stern School of Business, NYU (U.S.) 

More than 20 years of investment banking experience between the United States and the Middle East. Mr. Ghanem possess a broad range of skills and transactional experience which cover deal origination and execution in the full product range of Investment Banking, including IPO’s, Bond Issuances, M&A transactions, Privatizations, Restructurings and Private Placements. 

Mr. Ghanem began his investment banking career at UBS Warburg (currently UBS Investment Bank) in New York, United States, where he served as a Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group and has executed several buy–side and sell–side M&A transactions ranging in size from USD 50.0 million to USD 1.3 billion.  In 2007, Mr. Ghanem founded Ithmar Invest, which became a leading regional private investment banking firm.

B.Sc. in Public Administration – King Abdulaziz University
M.Sc. in Business Administration – Kennedy Western University (USA)

Mr. Ghamdi was  a Senior Banking Executive with more that 35 years of experience supporting and reinforcing banking growth and customer satisfaction. Mr. Ghamdi began his career at King Khalid International Airport, Jeddah and had overseen all Saudi Airspace and aviation controls and restrictions. In 1992 he started his banking career by joining SAMBA (Citibank), where he worked in different divisions of the bank, then in 2009 he moved to Alinma Bank and served as Bank Network Support Head. Mr. Ghamdi is now pursuing his own ventures within the banking sector.

B Com (Accounting) – Aileen University (Sudan)

Mr. Othman is the firm’s CFO with direct responsibilities of managing the day-to-day accounts of the Company.  In his post, Mr. Othman liaises with the firm's external auditors and oversees the generation of the firm’s financial statements.  Mr. Othman is also responsible for managing the daily cash flows and banking relationships of our firm as well as correspondence with our suppliers.  Mr. Othman holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Aileen University.

BBA – North Umbria University (UK)

Mr. Ahmed Shaheen holds a bachelor’s degree in business with finance from North Umbria University (Newcastle, United Kingdom). Mr. Shaheen is responsible for ensuring that the firm is in full compliance with the requirements and regulations of the Capital Market Authority (CMA) as well as other local laws and regulations.