Reda Zebdi has been appointed head of Middle East, HarbourVest Partners to lead the new office. He is joining from King Street, where he served as managing director and head of the Middle East office. Prior to that, he served in senior roles at BlackRock including head of Institutional and Wealth Sales, GCC. In this new role, Zebdi will oversee investor relations and deliver HarbourVest’s private markets solutions to investors across the region. 

As HarbourVest expands in the region, the firm said it expects to make additional hires to support its growing client base and deepen local engagement.

The new office, located in the Al Maryah Tower in ADGM Square, is HarbourVest’s sixth office in the EMEA region and its 15th globally. The firm has been active in the Middle East for over 40 years, managing capital for a diverse range of investors including sovereign wealth funds, pension funds. family offices, and private banks.

“Establishing a permanent presence in Abu Dhabi, a key financial centre in the Middle East, reflects our deep commitment to the region,” said David Atterbury, managing director and head of EMEA, HarbourVest Partners. “The region is a dynamic and growing market for private capital, and our new office will allow us to deepen relationships and better serve our clients and partners across the Gulf and beyond.”

“With decades of global private markets expertise, the firm will bring valuable capabilities to regional investors, reinforce the UAE’s position as a leading hub for asset and wealth management, and support broader economic diversification and growth,” Arvind Ramamurthy, chief market development officer of ADGM, continued. 

“There is significant and growing demand in the Middle East for high-quality alternative investment strategies,” Zebdi added. 

A number of firms have set up shop recently in Dubai and neighbouring Abu Dhabi, exploiting the rising level of demand for wealth management, for example inter-generational wealth and business transfer advisory work. , a specialist in asset servicing for private and corporate markets as well as fiduciary administration services, for instance, secured a new fund services licence in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) last month.

US-headquartered investment manager also opened its first office in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) in May to meet growing regional demand for its global and US equities and fixed income strategies. , a private markets investment management firm, also opened its office in the Middle East in February while Rothschild & Co opened a new office in Dubai last November, serving ultra-high net worth families, entrepreneurs, charities and foundations.