#Dubai Private Equity Firm GII Aims to Triple Assets to $10 Billion - Bloomberg

Dubai Private Equity Firm GII Aims to Triple Assets to $10 Billion - Bloomberg

Gulf Islamic Investments has emerged as one of the Middle East’s most prolific homegrown private equity firms, deploying more than $1 billion over the past four years even as global buyout giants muscled in on its home turf. Now, the Dubai-based firm is pushing for scale and aims to triple assets under management to $10 billion by the end of the decade.

To support that push, GII is exploring ways to boost its coffers by up to $400 million in the short term through a capital raise and the issuance of Islamic debt, co-founder Mohammed Alhassan said.

To bulk up, the firm has also explored acquiring a rival financial company and has held early discussions with a regional shariah-compliant mortgage provider, Alhassan said, declining to give more details. It’s also eying an initial public offering by the end of the decade.

“Our aim is to become the Blackstone of the Middle East,” Alhassan said, referring to the world’s largest alternative asset manager, which oversees more than $1 trillion. A key element of GII’s pitch, he said, is its ability to act as a conduit for overseas investors to access regional deal flow.

That gives the firm an edge at a time when the region has become a hub for global private equity.

KKR & Co., Permira and Brookfield Asset Management have all expanded operations and pursued deals in the Middle East, which was long viewed as a source of capital rather than an attractive investment destination. There’s competition, too, from local rivals including Gulf Capital, Affirma Capital and Fajr Capital.

The regional buyout sector appears to have turned the page following the 2018 collapse of the Abraaj Group. Once the Gulf’s largest private equity firm with about $9 billion in assets, Abraaj’s downfall initially shattered investor confidence and severely constrained fundraising for domestic firms.

While regional private equity deal volume declined in the first half of 2025, according to data platform Magnitt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are defying global macroeconomic uncertainty, with a growing proportion of transactions exceeding $500 million.

GII was founded in 2014 with about $5 million in capital by Alhassan, previously a director at Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House, and Pankaj Gupta, a former banker at Abu Dhabi’s largest lender.

The shariah-compliant alternative asset management group is partly owned by its two co-founders. Other backers include the Saudi Al Nahdi and Al Tamimi merchant families, SNB Capital, one of the kingdom’s largest asset managers, and Shurooq, Sharjah’s investment and development authority.

The firm primarily offers private equity, including real estate, private credit and debt opportunities. Just over half of its investors are institutional, a majority of whom are from the Gulf, Alhassan said.

It operates across the Gulf’s three main financial hubs — Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Riyadh — cities that have attracted international financial firms seeking access to fast-growing markets and tax-friendly jurisdictions.

GII typically co-invests 20% to 30% in its deals, securing the remaining commitment from its clients. “I’m providing services for all of the high net worth individuals, big institutions, sovereigns, pension funds, who want to participate in a very tailored, customized product,” Alhassan said.

The firm has already worked alongside some of the global investors it hopes to rival.

It sold a controlling stake in its logistics business to Brookfield and also participated in a consortium led by the alternatives giant that invested in the region’s largest school operator.

Other high-profile deals include the 2022 purchase of a digital trade bank from Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. That year, it also acquired a majority stake in Saudi Arabia’s largest provider of dental and dermatology care.

GII is now looking to take a minority stake of around $180 million in Hotpack, one of the Middle East’s largest industrial packaging firms, Alhassan said. Elsewhere, the firm plans to raise a private debt fund in Saudi Arabia of around $250 million.

In all, GII expects to finalize and announce two to three deals in the first quarter of 2026 alone, according to co-founder Gupta. “Opportunities abound here for those who know the market well, despite intense competition for the best private equity targets,” he said in a separate interview.

Beyond the region, GII has taken a 51% stake in UK-based shariah-compliant finance startup Offa and is considering an exit from an Indian pharmaceutical investment, which Alhassan expects to complete in the first quarter of 2026.

As GII sets its sights beyond the Middle East, partnerships will be critical.

“When we go, for example, to the US or somewhere else, we need to work with the big boys to penetrate the market,” Alhassan said. “Because even if you have a lot of money, you will not be able to penetrate without a track record.”