Today's Edition
ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)
Pantheon, a global private markets investment firm managing about $84 billion in assets, has opened an office in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and appointed Firas Mallah as Managing Director and Head of Middle East, the company said in a statement.
The Abu Dhabi office is Pantheon’s first in the Middle East and expands its global network to 13 locations across four continents.
Mallah will lead the company’s capital-raising activities with sovereign wealth funds, family offices and financial institutions across the region. He will be based in Abu Dhabi and report to Florence Dard, Pantheon’s Chief Client Officer. He joins Pantheon from Sagard, where he served as Managing Director and Head of the Middle East and North Africa. He has more than 23 years of experience in capital formation and investor relations across the Middle East.
Pantheon said demand for private equity, infrastructure and private credit strategies was increasing among investors in the Middle East. The company provides primary investments, secondary purchases and co-investment opportunities across these asset classes.
The firm entered the private equity secondaries market in 1988 and also operates private credit and infrastructure secondaries businesses. Secondary transactions provide investors with access to existing private-market assets and portfolios, rather than commitments to investments that have yet to be identified.
Pantheon has worked with investors across all GCC countries for nearly two decades, and the new office is intended to strengthen those relationships and expand its regional presence, the statement said.
“Off the back of a record fundraising year, Pantheon continues to see increasing capital formation across the platform, with a growing share coming from the GCC,” Dard said.
“With this office, Pantheon reaffirms its commitment to the region and to enhancing and deepening the relationships we have built with clients across every Gulf country for nearly two decades. We are particularly pleased to welcome Firas Mallah to the team — his track record raising capital from a broad range of investors speaks for itself, and his appointment strengthens our ability to serve clients across the Middle East directly.”
Mallah described the Middle East as one of the fastest-growing sources of private-markets capital.
“Investors here are increasingly sophisticated about how they want exposure to the asset class. Pantheon’s reputation as a global leader in secondaries and innovation in private markets solutions closely matches investor demand, and I’m excited to bring the firm’s private markets expertise to investors across the region,” he said.
“Establishing our presence in ADGM reflects our strong commitment to the region as we deepen our long-term engagement across the wider GCC.”
Arvind Ramamurthy, Chief Market Development Officer at ADGM, said Pantheon’s decision to establish its Middle East presence in Abu Dhabi reflected ADGM’s appeal to global private-markets firms seeking closer engagement with institutional investors in the region.
“Pantheon’s extensive experience across private equity, infrastructure and private credit will add further depth to our investment management community, and we look forward to supporting the firm’s growth in Abu Dhabi and across the wider region,” he said.
Pantheon has operated in private-market investing for more than 40 years and had approximately $84 billion in discretionary assets under management as of March 31, 2026.
