BrazilBen Hughes and Sami Besbes join Kroll in Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Global consulting firm Kroll has bolstered its Restructuring Advisory practice in the Middle East with two seniors: Ben Hughes and Sami Besbes.
Appointed a managing director, based in Dubai, Ben Hughes brings more than 20 years of construction/real estate project advisory experience to the firm. He advises clients (both project owners and sponsors) with the end to end lifecycle of capital projects, from feasibility support and procurement to project delivery, PMOs and risk management.
Before joining Kroll, Hughes served as a director in the Dubai Government, where he set up a new capital projects audit team with a remit to perform independent project reviews across a broad range of government construction projects. Before that, he spent a decade with Deloitte, of which six years in the UK and four in Dubai, where he led the capital projects advisory team across the region.
In the initial years of his career, Hughes held positions of growing seniority at engineering consultancy Mace, and worked on construction/real estate projects across London. He holds a master’s degree in construction law and project management from the University of Greenwich, and is a member of the Association for Project Management.
Appointed an associate managing director, based in Kroll’s Abu Dhabi office, Sami Besbes specialises in business valuation, merges & acquisitions, debt restructuring and financial and operational performance improvement. During his 15+ year career, he gained experience across diverse sectors such as education, defence, aerospace, agriculture, fintech, hospitality and real estate.
Prior to joining Kroll, Besbes was an in-house advisor to a private family office in Abu Dhabi, where he was responsible for restructuring and turnaround, the enhancement of existing corporate governance, financial performance reporting and operational performance improvement. He also acted as an advisor to the boards of portfolio companies.
Previously, Besbes worked seven years for Deloitte in its Corporate Finance practice, where he contributed to over 150 financial advisory engagements related to valuation, the restructuring of Abu Dhabi government entities, merges & acquisitions and forensic investigations.
A graduate of the University of Quebec at Montreal, Besbes started his career in the finance domain.
