EQT, Pantheon and Eurazeo Open Abu Dhabi Offices as Secondaries Market Hits Record

Since mid-September, EQT, Pantheon and Eurazeo have all opened offices in the emirate, according to the reports. They join Ardian and HarbourVest Partners, which were already there. PGIM, which manages $1.5 trillion in assets, has appointed Lucas Radael to run its Middle East secondaries business from Abu Dhabi.

The moves come as secondary transactions in private assets reached a record $121 billion in the first half of 2026, according to figures from Evercore cited in the reports. Bloomberg reported that the sector is expected to reach $250 billion in value this year.

Why Managers Are Moving In

Secondary deals have become more important as higher interest rates have made it harder for private equity owners to sell assets or list them, leaving investors waiting longer for cash to come back. Selling stakes on the secondary market is one way to release that capital. For Gulf sovereign wealth funds, whose private market portfolios have grown large, the same deals offer a way to rebalance holdings and free money for new investments.

Executives quoted in the reports said a local presence makes it easier to work with those funds. Firas Mallah, managing director and head of the Middle East at Pantheon, said the firm works with investors through structures including co-investments and tailored arrangements. Edward Holdsworth, a managing director on HarbourVest's secondary investment team, said relationships in the region could lead either to asset sales aimed at rebalancing portfolios or to partnerships to co-invest in secondary deals. Mohamed Abdel-Malek, head of PGIM's Middle East business, said regional institutions are increasingly using secondary transactions to manage their growing private market portfolios.

Ardian's Abu Dhabi Ties

Ardian is the clearest example of the trend in the reports. The firm raised $30 billion last year for what was described as the largest secondary investment platform ever assembled. It has a partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which manages $1.1 trillion, to launch a secondary real estate investment platform, an arrangement set up in the early days of the war with Iran, and it also works with Mubadala Investment Company on private assets. Ardian opened its Abu Dhabi office in 2023 and has continued to add staff there.

Yassine Zarrouk, managing director and co-head of Ardian Abu Dhabi, told Bloomberg that the firm's size makes it a natural partner for large and complex transactions, particularly when local investors need liquidity.

Pantheon announced days after opening its Abu Dhabi office in late September that its latest flagship global private equity secondaries fund had passed its target with $6 billion in commitments, with significant backing from new investors in the Middle East.

The Sovereign Fund Angle

Abu Dhabi's own funds are also adjusting. According to the reports, ADIA is recalibrating its private equity strategy, while the Abu Dhabi Investment Council plans to deploy up to $10 billion over the next three years. Gulf News also pointed to the Abu Dhabi Global Market's English common law framework as a draw for firms structuring complex transactions.

For the emirate, which promotes itself as the "Capital of Capital", the arrival of specialist secondaries managers suggests its funds are now valued not only as investors in new private funds but also as buyers and sellers of existing stakes. That gives Abu Dhabi a bigger role in how capital moves around the private markets at a time when traditional exits remain slow.