Advent has set up shop in Abu Dhabi's financial center, ADGM, and named Mehdi Iraqi to lead the new outpost as managing director for limited partner services. Iraqi joined in January and brings nearly 20 years working with institutional investors across the region, following earlier stints at AMG and Carlyle.
This becomes Advent's 18th office worldwide, added after recent expansions in Tokyo and Sydney.
Advent says the local presence will deepen ties with investors in the region, help the firm's existing portfolio companies, and open the door to new deals. The firm already has long-running relationships in the Middle East, including with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, backing deals that include Innio, a German maker of power equipment, alongside Fisher Investments, a money manager. ADIA manages about $1.1 trillion.
Global investors have been building Abu Dhabi beachheads even as the Iran war continues into month eight with no clear end in sight. Eurazeo, EQT AB and Pantheon are among those to launch in the UAE capital, pointing to the Gulf's long arc of growth, sizable capital reserves, and a growing hunger to deploy into both private credit and private equity.
Abu Dhabi, for its part, is rolling out homegrown investment platforms to steer overseas money into priority areas like infrastructure and logistics, a push that has become more urgent during the conflict. Its sovereign wealth funds, which control roughly $2 trillion, remain active. Global SWF notes Mubadala invested $26.2 billion over the year's first nine months, including capital via ADIC, Mubadala Capital and AI heavyweight MGX. The city's newest fund, L'imad Holding Co., has also begun to stand out and is expected to be central to the government's effort to loosen Iran's hold on the Strait of Hormuz.
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More buyout heavyweights on the ground typically means tighter investor relationships, a fuller deal pipeline, and potentially faster capital deployment into the region's marquee projects and private markets. For firms like Advent, that can translate to steadier access to Gulf money and more co-investment alongside the emirate's deep-pocketed funds.
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