BELTONE CLOSES AUERBACH ACQUISITION: In other M&A news, Beltone Financial Holding announced late yesterday afternoon (pdf) that it had completed its acquisition of a 60% stake in New York-based brokerage Auerbach Grayson & Company. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Naguib Sawiris, CEO of Beltone parent company OTMT, said “the Auerbach Grayson acquisition is a natural extension for our businesses and is the first step in our strategy to create a major Middle East-based global investment bank.” Beltone Chairman Sameh El Torgoman says the acquisition enables Beltone to “increase its exposure and broaden its customer base in emerging and frontier markets” and “aligns with Beltone broader corporate strategy to expand its brokerage, asset management and investment banking operations beyond the Middle East.” Auerbach Grayson specialises in global trade execution and exclusive in-depth research on developed, frontier and emerging markets for US institutional investors. Reuters has the story, which first broke in FastFT.