Global Secondaries Firms Open Abu Dhabi Offices to Chase Sovereign Capital

Key Points

1. EQT, Pantheon and Eurazeo opened Abu Dhabi offices since mid-September, joining Ardian and HarbourVest.
2. Secondaries deals hit a record $121 billion in the first half of 2026, Evercore said.
3. Global firms now compete for deals with Abu Dhabi's own expanding $2 trillion investment network.

The latest:

Three more global investment firms have planted offices in Abu Dhabi since mid-September, chasing an industry forecast to reach $250 billion this year. EQT AB, Pantheon and Eurazeo joined earlier arrivals Ardian and HarbourVest Partners, Bloomberg reported, in a shift that goes beyond raising money from sovereign funds to investing alongside them and buying stakes in their portfolio companies.

Details:

• The anchor deal: Ardian raised a record $30 billion last year for the largest secondaries platform ever assembled. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority committed $2 billion with rights to make additional co-investments, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, one of the largest commitments of its kind on record. Representatives for ADIA and Ardian declined to comment.
• Market scale: Secondaries deals for private assets surged to a record $121 billion in the first half of 2026, according to Evercore. Once a niche strategy, secondaries gained ground as higher interest rates made it harder to sell assets and return cash to investors, with manager-led continuation funds driving the bulk of that growth.
• Why Gulf funds care: As sovereign investors’ private-market portfolios expand, secondaries offer a route to rebalance exposures and recycle capital into new investments. Yacine Zarrouk, co-head of Ardian Ltd. and senior managing director for investor relations, described the firm’s scale as making it a natural partner for large or complex transactions offering local investors liquidity.
• Ardian’s footprint: The French firm partnered with the $1.1 trillion ADIA on a real estate secondaries platform, and also holds partnerships with Mubadala Investment Co. on private-asset investments. It has been expanding its Abu Dhabi team since opening an office there in 2023.
• Pantheon’s raise: Days after setting up its Abu Dhabi outpost in late September, Pantheon said its latest flagship global private equity secondaries offering beat its target with $6 billion in commitments, including significant backing from new Middle Eastern investors. Firas Mallah, managing director and head of Middle East, said a local presence makes co-investment conversations easier.
• The sourcing logic: Edward Holdsworth, managing director of HarbourVest’s secondary team, said proximity gives firms a closer view of regional investors’ portfolios and liquidity needs. That may lead to a secondary transaction if an investor rebalances through a sale, he said, or open the door to secondary co-investments instead.
• Abu Dhabi’s own push: ADIA has been recalibrating its private equity strategy, while the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, an independently run unit of Mubadala, plans to deploy as much as $10 billion over the next three years. PGIM, the $1.5 trillion asset manager, hired Lucas Radal to head its Middle East Secondary Investments unit, based in Abu Dhabi.
• The competition: Firms arriving in search of so-called silent capital increasingly compete for deals, including against the emirate’s own network, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. That network spans L’imad Capital, a buyout-style unit of the newest wealth fund, the technology and AI vehicle MGX, and Mubadala, the $385 billion group ramping up private equity.
• Capital flowing both ways: Some Abu Dhabi investment firms are themselves courting outside investors. Mubadala’s asset management arm recently sold a nearly 10% stake to Apollo Global Management, a deal Bloomberg described as the culmination of Apollo’s long-standing partnership with Abu Dhabi.

Background:

Secondaries involve buying existing stakes in private funds or companies rather than making new investments. The market expanded as a slow exit environment left sovereign and institutional investors holding assets longer than planned, pushing them toward sales and continuation vehicles to free up cash.

Between the lines:

The arrivals are betting on access, not just fundraising. Ardian’s $30 billion platform with a $2 billion ADIA commitment, Pantheon’s $6 billion raise with new Middle Eastern backers, and HarbourVest’s account of sourcing through proximity all point the same way: the value is in seeing sovereign portfolios early. But with Abu Dhabi simultaneously building L’imad, MGX and Mubadala’s direct capability, newcomers are courting the same institutions that are becoming their rivals.

What’s next

Watch whether the Abu Dhabi Investment Council begins deploying its $10 billion program, how ADIA’s private equity recalibration translates into secondaries sales, and whether full-year secondaries volume reaches the forecast $250 billion.