Advent Opens Abu Dhabi Office in ADGM to Cover the Middle East
The private equity firm has set up in Abu Dhabi Global Market under Mehdi Iraqi to work with regional investors, support portfolio companies and look for deals.
Advent has opened an office in Abu Dhabi Global Market, the emirate's international financial centre. The private equity firm will use the base for three connected tasks: working with investors across the Middle East, supporting companies already in its portfolio, and scouting for investment opportunities in the region.
Advent said the office extends relationships it has already built in the Middle East. Mehdi Iraqi, who joined in January 2026 as Managing Director for Limited Partner Services, will lead the Abu Dhabi team. He has spent almost two decades covering institutional investors in the Middle East and previously held roles at AMG and Carlyle.
James Brocklebank, Advent's Managing Partner and Co-Chair of its Global Executive Committee, said colleagues based locally help a global business stay closer to the institutions and long-term partners that support its work. Iraqi said he has devoted much of his career to institutional investors across the region and looks forward to building on those relationships from Abu Dhabi.
The opening follows a stretch of expansion. Advent set up in Sydney in July 2024 to cover Australia and New Zealand, and added Tokyo in January 2026. Earlier in the year it deepened its Hong Kong presence; that office serves as its regional base for working with investors in Asia Pacific, a region where Advent has invested for more than 30 years. With Abu Dhabi, the firm now counts 18 offices across 15 countries.
A local desk shortens the distance between a fund and the institutions that commit capital to it, and puts a team inside the region where portfolio companies trade. For Advent, the Abu Dhabi office sits at the intersection of both: the investors it is courting and the businesses it already owns.
