By Ampamya Ronah

Swedish private markets giant EQT has opened an office in Abu Dhabi Global Market as the first base for a new Middle East investing platform, a move Bloomberg reported as part of a long-term regional commitment even as geopolitical tensions persist.

The Stockholm-listed firm, which manages about $389 billion in assets, will start with more than 10 professionals on the ground covering investments and client solutions. CEO Per Franzén told Bloomberg the firm plans to expand across the Middle East over time and is looking at opportunities in energy, digital and AI infrastructure, and private equity.

The platform is designed to do more than raise capital from the region’s sovereign wealth funds. EQT said it will support existing portfolio companies already active in the GCC — including Nord Anglia Education, Virtusa, Banking Circle, Nothing and SAUR — while hunting new deals tied to the Gulf’s economic diversification. Deal sizes could range from about $15 million to $1 billion, depending on the opportunity, according to reporting that followed the announcement.

Leadership of the regional platform sits with Jimmy Mahtani, appointed Chairman of GCC while remaining Chairman of India and Southeast Asia for EQT Private Capital. The Abu Dhabi office is led by Smiyet Belrhiti, Head of Middle East and Senior Executive Officer. The team brings together private capital and infrastructure professionals, plus capital-raising and operations staff, under EQT’s “One EQT” model.

EQT and its chair, Jean Eric Salata, framed the office as the next chapter in relationships built with major regional investors over decades. Abu Dhabi’s ADGM was chosen for its regulatory framework, institutional environment, and role as a financial hub close to some of the world’s largest pools of sovereign capital.

The opening fits a broader pattern: global investment firms have been adding Gulf outposts this year to sit nearer both limited partners and a growing pipeline of privatizations, family-business successions, healthcare, education, utilities, and digital infrastructure. Bloomberg noted that EQT’s move adds to that string of regional expansions.

For EQT, Abu Dhabi is a foothold rather than a finished map. The firm has said the office is the first location in a platform it intends to build out across GCC markets. In a region racing to convert energy wealth into diversified, investable economies, that on-the-ground presence is the real signal: EQT is no longer just flying in for fundraising. It is setting up to underwrite, own, and grow businesses from inside the Gulf.