Dubai private capital summit spotlights Gulf's growing deal power

More than 300 senior dealmakers gathered in Dubai for the Private Capital Summit at The Lana, where lenders, buyers and advisers debated how the Gulf is financing, exiting and structuring more of its own transactions. The event highlighted the rise of private credit, a more established secondary market and accelerating AI use across regional portfolio management.

Why it matters: - The Gulf is moving from a capital importer to a market that finances its own deals and creates its own exit paths. - That shift affects how private equity, private credit and secondaries are structured across the MENA region. - The change also signals Dubai’s push to position itself as a hub for the next phase of private capital growth.

What happened: - CapLink Group held the Private Capital Summit, Dubai on Sept. 15 at The Lana. - More than 300 senior professionals attended. - The gathering brought together lenders, buyers, lawyers, administrators and investors involved in private capital transactions. - BlueFive Capital founder and CEO Hazem Ben-Gacem delivered the afternoon keynote. - Matthew Benson, MENA Private Capital Leader at EY-Parthenon, chaired the day.

The details: - Regional mergers and acquisitions reached a record $106.1 billion across 884 transactions last year, according to EY. - The summit focused on how private capital in the region is structured, financed and unwound. - Confirmed participants included BlackRock, Permira, Warburg Pincus, Investcorp, Tikehau Capital, Ares Management, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, HPS Investment Partners, StepStone and HarbourVest. - More than 30 additional institutions from private equity, private credit, venture capital, secondaries and advisory also took part. - The agenda featured main-stage sessions and five parallel roundtables. - One recurring theme was private credit’s growing role in leveraged buyouts, infrastructure deals and growth capital. - EY and ecosystem data point to roughly $4.1 billion of structured private debt underwritten across the GCC startup and mid-market ecosystem. - The same data set puts the regional alternative asset base at more than $2 trillion. - Another major topic was the Middle East secondary market, including GP-led continuation vehicles, LP portfolio sales and NAV financing. - Panellists said the volume and complexity of regional secondary transactions accelerated materially in 2025 and 2026. - A dedicated AI session examined how investors are using AI in revenue forecasting, due diligence workflows, supply chain optimization and knowledge management. - Participants also discussed governance and cybersecurity issues tied to large-scale AI adoption in regulated investment settings. - The summit was supported by EY-Parthenon as headline partner. - Clifford Chance, White & Case, A&O Shearman, Akin, Gibson Dunn, Skadden, DLA Piper and Alvarez & Marsal served as platinum sponsors. - FAB Bank, Abacus and Cleary Gottlieb were gold sponsors. - The Financial Times was the official media partner, and Preqin, part of BlackRock, was the official data partner.

Between the lines: - The summit’s format put the firms that structure, finance, administer and advise on transactions in the lead, rather than a single fund presenting its own strategy. - That setup reflects a more mature ecosystem where regional institutions are setting terms instead of simply following outside capital. - The strong turnout and sponsor list suggest the market sees Dubai as a central meeting point for regional private capital. - Ben-Gacem said the Gulf is helping drive the shift in global capital and sees the most compelling opportunities where regional ambition meets global expertise. - CapLink Group founder and managing director Nawshad Noorkhan said regional institutions are setting the agenda and international partners are aligning with them.

What's next: - The summit framed the second half of 2026 as a period for deploying capital into opportunities that combine regional demand with global expertise. - CapLink Group said the Dubai forum is part of a broader private capital summit network that also includes New York and Europe. - The event points to continued growth in private credit, secondaries and AI-enabled portfolio management across the Gulf.

The bottom line: - Dubai is no longer just a place where capital arrives. The market is increasingly where deals are financed, exited and controlled.