RIYADH: Saudi Arabia accounted for about 61 percent of Middle East-based private-capital funds closed since 2015, underscoring the Kingdom’s growing role in the region’s private-markets ecosystem, according to a new analysis. 

The report, released by BlackRock’s Aladdin and based on Preqin data, showed that of the 590 funds closed across the Middle East since 2015, 359 were based in Saudi Arabia, more than twice the 143 funds recorded in the UAE.

Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and other Middle East markets accounted for 88 funds combined. 

According to the analysis, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has accelerated its direct private-equity deal activity in the Middle East, overtaking rest-of-world activity in 2023 and extending that lead since.  

Ayman Daif, managing director and head of Aladdin Business Development for the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and India, said: “The direction of travel in the region points to a structural shift: capital is increasingly being deployed at home, and the institutions and ecosystems are being built around it.”   

Middle East sovereign wealth funds tracked by Preqin allocate 43.2 percent of their exposure to private capital, compared with 35 percent for their rest-of-world peers, excluding Africa. 

The share of Middle East limited partners who are positive on or considering private-equity mandates has risen from 70 percent in 2019 to 83 percent in 2026, compared with an increase from 60 percent to 61 percent among rest-of-world investors over the same period.

Daif, citing BlackRock Investment Institute research, further said that the Gulf Cooperation Council is entering an estimated $2.1 trillion strategic investment cycle through 2030, with spending increasingly focused on strategic resilience, energy and industrial infrastructure, and digital infrastructure.  

Family offices  

Family offices now form the largest private-capital investor group in the Middle East, accounting for almost half of active Middle East-based limited partners in 2026.  

GCC family offices show the strongest preference for private equity, at 27 percent of future search mandates, followed by real estate at 19 percent, private credit at 16 percent, infrastructure at 14 percent, hedge funds at 13 percent and natural resources at 11 percent. 

Venture capital 

According to the report, venture capital has also remained resilient, with aggregate Middle East VC deal value averaging $2.4 billion a year between 2021 and 2025. Deal value reached about $3.5 billion in 2022, while activity has remained relatively steady since 2021.