Eurazeo Opens First Middle East Office at Abu Dhabi Global Market

Eurazeo has set up its first Middle East office at Abu Dhabi Global Market, giving the French investment group a permanent base in the Gulf after a decade of working with investors there. The group announced the opening in a statement issued on Thursday.

The office will operate as a hub for Eurazeo's activity across the region. It is meant to put the firm in direct contact with institutional investors, family offices, sovereign institutions and strategic partners, rather than running those relationships from Europe.

Gulf capital, European deals

Eurazeo said the Gulf has grown steadily more important to its business on two fronts. The region supplies long-term capital, and it has become a market where the group's portfolio companies can expand. Over the past ten years, the firm has built relationships with investors across the Gulf while helping a number of those companies move into regional markets.

The group is positioning itself around a shift it sees among Gulf investors, who are diversifying their holdings and raising their exposure to European markets. Eurazeo wants to serve as the link between that capital and European mid-market companies.

Abu Dhabi was chosen with the concentration of institutions and sovereign wealth funds in the UAE in mind. From there, the office will handle the group's partner relationships across the Gulf and assist portfolio companies with regional expansion.

Who runs the office

Adrien Pinelli, a managing director in the investor relations team, will lead the office. That team is headed by Mathieu Teisseire.

The group's scale

Eurazeo reported €40 billion ($45 billion) in diversified assets under management as of June 30, spread across private equity, private debt, real estate and infrastructure. It backs more than 650 mid-market companies and employs around 450 people. The Abu Dhabi site brings its office count to 16, spanning Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East.

The group is listed on Euronext Paris. Its offices are in Paris, New York, London, Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Milan, Stockholm, Madrid, Luxembourg, Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo and São Paulo.

Co-CEOs Christophe Bavière and William Kadouch-Chassaing said the timing reflects the Gulf's rising weight for the firm and the growing appetite among regional investors for European assets. The office, they said, will also support portfolio companies operating in the region and help build longer-term partnerships.

Arvind Ramamurthy, chief market development officer at ADGM, said the new regional office would support investment links between the Gulf and Europe.