The firm, which is based in Sweden and operates in 25 countries, sees continued expansion potential in the Middle East region.
Sweden-headquartered EQT,
a private markets firm with $389 billion in assets under
management, said yesterday that it has launched its Middle East
platform and opened an office in Abu Dhabi.
The new office is in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, the financial
centre.
EQT said the office is the first location within a broader
regional platform that it expects to develop over time.
The firm’s Middle East platform is led by Jimmy Mahtani, who has
been appointed chairman of GCC, alongside his existing role as
chairman of India and Southeast Asia for EQT Private Capital. The
Abu Dhabi office is led by Smiyet Belrhiti, head of Middle East,
who has also been appointed senior executive officer.
With the addition of Abu Dhabi, EQT now has offices in more than
25 countries that together account for more than 80 per cent of
global GDP.
In June 2024, Peter Beske Nielsen, EQT’s head of global wealth
solutions and evergreen strategies, said in an article on his
firm’s website that there is a need to improve private investor
access to areas such as private equity. The narrative of how such
hitherto hard-to-enter assets should be “democratised” has become
a regular refrain in the wealth management sector.