Mr. Nathan Weatherstone has been appointed as Project Finance Advisory Head of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD). He will focus developing NBAD's advisory business in a wide range of industries including power generation, transportation, social infrastructure and the development of economic cities.

Nicholas Gilani, the Co-Head of NBAD's Investment Banking Group, said:

"We are very pleased to welcome Nathan on board. The advisory practice at Nation Bank of Abu Dhabi is regarded as a key growth area, covering the full gamut from project finance advisory to mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private placements, IPO advisory and strategic advisory,"

He has over 12 years of experience in helping Government clients to structure and procure major power and infrastructure  projects, and support corporate sponsors to raise equity and funding for project finance and public private partnership (PPP) transactions. Nathan has a long track record in the regional IPP sector and has worked on several of the pathfinder waste to energy projects in the UK.

Nathan also retains in depth experience of project financing in a wide range of other industry sectors. Nathan joined NBAD in 2010 from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) where he led PwC's Middle East PPP advisory practice from Abu Dhabi. Prior to this, he spent seven years with PwC's UK PPP team and two years at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi's Structured Finance team in London. He holds an MBA from Warwick Business School, UK, and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.

Mr. Gilani added:

"With an extensive background and deep expertise in project finance and PPP, Nathan is well qualified to build on NBAD's first class track record in regional project financings and will provide high quality leadership to our origination team."

Mr. Weathersone said:

"Prompted by population growth and a strong desire to deliver world class public services, we have witnessed a significant increase in infrastructure sector spending in the GCC region which, coupled with a move towards procurement focused on value for money over the whole life of a project, has led to the use of private finance as a primary funding vehicle. Whilst the current challenges to liquidity are set to persist, well structured projects with strong sponsors remain attractive to the financial markets. With a strong track record in the GCC region and further afield in Egypt, NBAD provides the perfect platform to service regional and international clients."