Dubai private capital summit draws 300-plus dealmakers as Gulf shifts to lending and exits

More than 300 senior dealmakers gathered at The Lana in Dubai for the Private Capital Summit, where lenders, buyers and advisers focused on how the Gulf is financing its own transactions and creating local exit routes. The event underscored the region’s growing private credit, secondaries and AI adoption as 2026 deal activity heats up.

Why it matters: - The Gulf is moving from a capital receiver to a capital allocator, with private markets increasingly financing, exiting and shaping deals inside the region. - That shift matters for lenders, sponsors and advisers because it changes where deal capital comes from and how transactions get done. - The summit’s themes point to a deeper regional market for private credit, secondaries and technology-enabled portfolio management.

What happened: - More than 300 senior professionals attended the Private Capital Summit, Dubai, held Sept. 15 at The Lana. - CapLink Group organized the one-day forum for private capital funds, investors, dealmakers and advisers. - Hazem Ben-Gacem, founder and chief executive of BlueFive Capital, delivered the afternoon keynote. - Matthew Benson, MENA Private Capital Leader at EY-Parthenon, chaired the day. - CapLink Group said the inaugural edition gathered over 300 C-suite decision-makers.

The details: - EY data showed regional mergers and acquisitions hit a record $106.1 billion across 884 transactions last year. - Summit participants focused on owners selling stakes to one another and raising liquidity through private markets rather than waiting for public listings. - 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 summit featured main-stage sessions and five parallel roundtables. - Private credit emerged as a central theme, with discussion of direct lending and non-bank financing for leveraged buyouts, infrastructure transactions and growth capital. - EY and ecosystem data put roughly $4.1 billion of structured private debt underwritten across the GCC startup and mid-market ecosystem. - The region’s alternative asset base was described as holding more than $2 trillion. - Secondary-market discussion centered on GP-led continuation vehicles, LP portfolio sales and NAV financing. - Panellists said secondary transaction volume and complexity accelerated materially through 2025 and 2026. - The AI session and related roundtables focused on active implementation in revenue forecasting, due diligence workflow, supply chain optimization and knowledge management. - Participants from DAMAC Capital, Wafra, Partners Capital and Miras Investments discussed governance and cybersecurity issues tied to large-scale AI adoption in regulated investment settings. - BlueFive Capital’s Hazem Ben-Gacem said the Gulf is helping drive the shift in global capital and that the most interesting opportunities lie where regional ambition meets global expertise. - CapLink Group said international partners are aligning with regional institutions to deepen the MENA private capital ecosystem. - The summit was supported by EY-Parthenon as headline partner. - Platinum sponsors included Clifford Chance, White & Case, A&O Shearman, Akin, Gibson Dunn, Skadden, DLA Piper and Alvarez & Marsal. - FAB Bank, Abacus and Cleary Gottlieb were gold sponsors. - The Financial Times served as official media partner, and Preqin, a part of BlackRock, served as official data partner. - CapLink Group says its events have convened more than 2,000 delegates and 250-plus speakers. - The Private Capital Summit, Dubai is a senior-level, one-day forum held at The Lana and produced alongside CapLink Group’s New York and European summits.

Between the lines: - The event’s structure put transaction specialists, not a single fund manager, in charge of the conversation, which signals a more mature and self-directed market. - The focus on private credit and secondaries suggests the Gulf is building the plumbing needed to keep capital moving even when public markets are less helpful. - The AI discussion indicates the region is moving beyond experimentation and into operational use, with governance still a gating issue.

What's next: - The region’s private capital market appears positioned for more local lending, more secondary exits and more AI-driven portfolio work. - CapLink Group framed the Dubai summit as part of a broader platform that includes its New York and European events. - Media enquiries were directed to NorthStar Insights at press@northstar-insights.com. - More information is available on CapLink Group and on NorthStar Insights on LinkedIn.

The bottom line: - Dubai’s private capital market is no longer just attracting money; it is increasingly setting the terms for how deals are financed, managed and exited.