About us
Pearlstone is a boutique finance advisory based in Dubai and working across the MENA region. We serve companies that need institutional-quality finance work but not a permanent CFO or a large consulting team.
Founder
Founder & Managing Director
Our people
Pearlstone draws on a pool of advisers from strategy consulting and the Big Four, across audit, financial advisory, transactions and strategy. Each engagement is staffed with the people whose experience fits the question in front of you, and one senior adviser stays accountable for the work from scoping through to delivery.
The firm was founded by Charbel Ghabali, who spent a decade in the Big Four on due diligence, valuation, PPP procurement and business plans for Saudi government entities and family conglomerates, and who holds a BSc and a Master's in Finance from the Lebanese University.
We built Pearlstone for the companies that sit between the bookkeeper and the large firms: family groups formalising their finance function, growing companies preparing for their next stage, and regional or international businesses expanding into new markets across the MENA region.
We work in Arabic, English and French.
How we work
Why clients choose a boutique over a large firm, written down so you can hold us to them.
Every engagement is led by a senior adviser who stays with it from the first call to the board presentation. No hand-off to junior staff after the pitch.
Retainers are priced by an agreed time bracket and projects by fixed quote. You know the cost before work begins.
We tell you when the numbers don't support the plan, including when that isn't what you hoped to hear.
Selected work
Client names are withheld and every engagement is confidential. References are available on request.
Reconciled a multi-entity five-year plan across successive board versions, closed the consolidation gaps, and prepared the board rehearsal pack with anticipated questions and answers.
Five-year horizon · IFRS three-statement modelTwo-scenario DCF alongside net book value and trading comparables, with scenarios built on market demand and historical participation rates rather than a flat uplift.
FCFF DCF · comparables · net book valueLed the proposal for a greenfield plant feasibility study in Saudi Arabia, covering the market, regulatory and financial workstreams.
Greenfield base case · market entryTurned a 36 GB transaction dataset into collection-rate and ageing analysis for director-level reporting, showing exactly where cash was getting stuck.
100M records · ageing to 90+ daysProcurement and financial advisory on Saudi government PPP and BOT programmes, and strategy and transaction work for government and infrastructure clients.
Government & infrastructureIndustry expertise
Financial analysis is only as strong as the operating assumptions underneath it. Where an engagement calls for sector or technical knowledge beyond finance, we identify and consult industry-specific subject matter experts, so the outputs are defensible and validated by people who know the industry.
We flag early which assumptions need specialist input: market, technical, operational or regulatory.
We bring in experts with direct experience of the sector and build their input into the analysis.
Key assumptions are tested with those experts before results go to your board, lenders or investors.
Start a conversation
A 30-minute call is usually enough to tell whether a retainer, a project, or neither is the right fit. No preparation needed.