DUBAI: Citigroup Inc's C.N investment banking team has increased by 50 percent in size over the past two years and more people are being added in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, joining rivals seeking to take advantage of a red-hot Gulf initial public offering market.

The Gulf region has become a bright spot for public share sales this year, boosted by high oil prices and government-led privatization programs.

Gulf issuers have raised about $16 billion in IPOs this year, accounting for about half of total IPO proceeds from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Refinitiv data shows.

The growth in Gulf equity capital markets is in sharp contrast to the US and Europe, where global banks have been trimming headcount in a dealmaking drought.

Citigroup moved its director for power, renewables and utilities, Omar El Duraie, to Dubai from London this year.

It is planning to add more people in Saudi Arabia and the UAE by the end of the year, said Miguel Azevedo, Citi’s head of investment banking for the Middle East and Africa, excluding South Africa.

"This year the region has been extremely active while the rest of the world has been on pause," he told Reuters. "I expect next year to be very similar to this year."

Many IPOs have had books covered within an hour or a few hours from opening. Some have increased the size of offerings during the process to accommodate the strong demand.

Others expanding in the Gulf include Rothschild & Co ROTH.PA, which has opened an office in Saudi Arabia, while Goldman Sachs GS.N is hiring bankers for its wealth management and investment banking businesses in the region.