Moelis Dubai Off Cycle

1. Everything Moelis Dubai does are IPOs. Most deals in Dubai are ECM and they are in boring sectors like O&G. Sure there are some restructurings and M&A here and there, but most dealflow in GCC is ECM. Personally find ECM incredibly boring with 0 exit opps. Moelis is still the best in Dubai tho with M Klein and Roth posing some competition.
2. It's a fucking sweatshop. Way sweatier than Moelis NYC or London. Imagine working a 100 hours per week on shitty IPOs and secondary offerings.
3. Exit opps are dogshit. Doing research on linkedin you'll find some guy with a shitty proptech startup. The rest go into shitty family offices in Dubai. 0 PE presence, not even mid market. People will go into Mubadala/PIF type funds where there is no upwards mobility for expats (the only people who move up are locals). However, still important to note these positions are pretty chill, 9-5 with good comp. Personally, I have higher aspirations than to work at an SWF.
    
   1. Adding on to this point. Yes, you make a fuckton of money at Moelis Dubai. 300k+ income after taxes as AS1 (as per other threads). This is the only redeeming factor However, the golden handcuffs are even stronger in Dubai. You will never make it to LDN/NYC in PE given how much of a discount there is for Dubai experience since the clients are not as sophisticated as LDN/NYC IB. You are essentially pigeonholed to spending the rest of your career in Dubai.
   2. You can lateral to IB in LDN/NYC and several people have done this internally, but what's the point of coming to Dubai in the first place if you want to work in IB in a western market.
4. Dubai is a horrible place to live. Coming from Europe & having lived in Dubai, the cities here in Europe are beautiful, walkable with great weather most of the year. In Dubai, the weather will be okay 2 months of the year and the rest of the year you will not survive without AC. There is no history nothing, just superficial concrete towers. Horrific traffic as well, just really shitty infrastructure allroudn.
5. Good luck finding a girlfriend/boyfriend or husband/wife in Dubai lol. You will never have the same level of access to beautiful honest girls as you would in EU/NA.
    
   1. The people in Dubai are as superficial as can be. Everyone who moves here is to take advantage of the taxes & increased income. Third world nationalities are shit on.

Dubai does have its pros as well. The comp is the absolute best given there are no income taxes. Low COL. Safety but thats about it.

This off-cycle isn't a bad opportunity, but only accept if it it's the best you can do.