Bain Capital deepens Abu Dhabi push

Bain Capital has opened an office in Abu Dhabi Global Market, expanding its Middle East presence as the private investment firm seeks closer ties with regional investors, broader support for portfolio companies and a stronger position in sectors that match Abu Dhabi’s economic agenda. The firm said the new base will focus on aviation, healthcare, digital infrastructure and financial technology, and will serve as a regional hub for deeper engagement across the Middle East. Bain Capital says it manages about $215 billion in assets and operates 24 offices worldwide.

The move comes four months after Bain Capital entered a strategic partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office under the emirate’s Fintech, Insurance, Digital and Alternative Assets cluster, known as FIDA. Abu Dhabi authorities have said the cluster is intended to build next-generation financial infrastructure spanning fintech, alternative investments, digital assets, long-term savings, transition finance and SME capital platforms. Officials have projected the initiative will add AED 56 billion to direct gross domestic product, create 8,000 skilled jobs and attract at least AED 17 billion in investment over time.

For Bain Capital, the Abu Dhabi office is more than a symbolic Gulf outpost. The firm said its regional strategy rests on three aims: strengthening capital formation with long-standing institutional backers, helping selected portfolio companies expand in the Gulf and wider Middle East, and assessing the scope for direct regional investments as local markets deepen. That approach reflects the changing role of Abu Dhabi, which is no longer viewed merely as a source of sovereign capital but increasingly as a base from which global firms can pursue transactions, partnerships and operating growth.

David Gross, managing partner at Bain Capital, said the firm’s relationships in the Middle East had been built over decades and that Abu Dhabi offered an attractive platform because of its regulatory framework, strategic connectivity and long-term orientation. Tom Sargeant, partner and head of Asia and Middle East investor relations, said many institutions in the region had backed Bain funds for years and that those ties had widened into broader strategic collaboration. Their comments underline how the Gulf’s largest allocators are becoming more embedded in private markets as repeat partners rather than occasional limited partners.

Abu Dhabi officials have cast the opening as another sign that global asset managers and investment houses continue to choose the emirate despite wider geopolitical strain in the region. Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, chairman of ADGM, said Bain Capital’s arrival showed leading financial firms were anchoring regional growth strategies in Abu Dhabi, drawn by legal certainty, institutional depth and access to long-duration capital. That message fits a wider campaign by the capital to present itself as a stable platform for international finance at a time when investors are looking for predictable regulation and proximity to sovereign wealth.

The broader numbers point to why firms are moving. ADGM said at the end of March that assets under management within the centre rose 36 per cent in 2025, while the number of asset and fund managers climbed to 171 overseeing 244 funds. Active licences rose to 12,671, with 3,769 new licences issued during the year, and the workforce expanded by more than half to 44,339 people. Such growth helps explain why a rising number of global finance groups are choosing Abu Dhabi not only for fundraising access but also for permanent regional operations.

That pattern has become more visible this month. Reuters reported on 2 April that Hillhouse Investment, which manages more than $100 billion, had also opened an Abu Dhabi office, pressing ahead even as conflict in the region complicated travel and operations for some firms. The signal is that large managers still see strategic value in being on the ground near the Gulf’s sovereign capital pools and family offices, rather than covering the region from London, New York or Singapore.

Bain Capital’s choice of focus sectors is also telling. Aviation and healthcare reflect established Gulf demand and government-backed investment priorities, while digital infrastructure and fintech sit squarely within Abu Dhabi’s effort to turn financial services, payments, insurance and digital assets into long-term engines of diversification. The FIDA partnership gives Bain a direct foothold inside that policy framework, linking the firm’s investment platform to an official cluster designed to attract capital, talent and technology into the emirate.