Royal Bank of Scotland sees two to four initial public offerings from the Gulf and between seven and 10 mandates for bond issuances in the Middle East and Africa in 2011, senior regional executives said.

Tom Emmet, RBS managing director and head of corporate finance and equity capital markets for the Middle East and Africa, said IPOs would likely be listed on the London bourse with the UK bank actively involved in two Gulf region IPO deals.

'Anything between 2-4 IPOs in London this year,' he told reporters at a media roundtable in Dubai regarding the prospects for listings. 'You are going to see the next ones from the UAE or Qatar.'    

Emmet said the deals that the company is involved in will likely be listed in London and will be valued in the range of $200 million to $400 million in size. Both deals will come after the first half of 2011, he added.   

IPO activity in the Gulf came to a standstill after the global financial crisis. There have been signs of pickup in recent months, however, with Topaz Energy and Marine, a unit of Oman's Renaissance Services launching a $500 million London listing earlier in March.

And Emirates Airlines, one of Dubai's most profitable entities has been the subject of speculation that it, too, might seek a public listing as Dubai raises funds to help meet state-owned Dubai World's $26 billion debt restructuring plan.

Like the IPO market, debt capital markets in the region came to a halt following the financial crisis. Signs of life in the sector emerged in the fourth quarter of last year but regional unrest has dampened some enthusiasm for the bond market early in 2011.

RBS executives, however, see more mandates for debt issuances in the pipeline. The company expects between seven and 10 mandates for new bond issues in the Middle East and Africa this years, said Jacco Keijzer, managing director and head of debt capital markets, Middle East and Africa.   

'Most of them are paper mandates already or signed, some of them are verbal, but I'm very comfortable that most of them are coming through,' Keijzer said. - Reuters