Middle East private equity industry seen gaining maturity

The Middle East private equity industry, which went through a period of shake out post-financial crisis is back on its feet and the market has matured in the last five years in terms of deal structures, volumes and values, according to industry practitioners. Family-owned businesses, in particular, are looking for ways to grow and expand regionally or internationally and they too are becoming more sophisticated in how they structure and govern their businesses in order to attract private equity investors, said Alexander Gross, Director at Merrill DataSite. Overall, the panellists agreed that there is more maturity on the sellers’ side and they recognise the value of private equity, more than they did five years ago.