30 September 2026
Pantheon, a London based private markets investor with approximately USD 84 billion in discretionary assets under management, announced on 30 September 2026 that it has opened its first office in Abu Dhabi, in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). The office takes Pantheon to 13 locations across four continents. Firas Mallah, who joins from Sagard, has been appointed Managing Director and Head of Middle East and will lead fundraising from sovereign wealth funds, family offices and financial institutions across the region. Pantheon follows EQT, Blue Owl, Vista Equity Partners and Man Group into ADGM, where assets under management grew 54 per cent year on year in the first half of 2026 and the managers that set up in that half oversee more than USD 2.1 trillion worldwide.
What Pantheon announced
The announcement has two parts: a new office and a senior regional appointment. The office is in ADGM, the international financial centre of Abu Dhabi with its own regulator and its own common law courts. None of Pantheon’s other twelve offices is in the Middle East: according to its affiliate profile on the website of Affiliated Managers Group (AMG), they are London, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Bogota, Dublin, Berlin, Geneva, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo.
Pantheon says it has built relationships with a broad and diverse range of investors across every GCC country over nearly two decades, and it describes the Abu Dhabi office as the natural next step in those relationships. The company links the move to growing demand from Middle East investors for private equity, infrastructure and private credit.
The mandate of the office is capital formation. In practice that means raising money from Gulf investors for Pantheon’s programmes and managing the relationship with those investors afterwards. The announcement does not describe a deal team that will buy stakes in UAE companies, and that distinction matters when you compare this opening with other recent arrivals in Abu Dhabi.
Who is Firas Mallah
Firas Mallah joins Pantheon from the investment firm Sagard, where he was Managing Director and Head of MENA. He has more than 23 years of experience in capital formation and investor relations across the Middle East and holds an MBA from INSEAD. He will be based in Abu Dhabi and report to Florence Dard, Pantheon’s Chief Client Officer.
“The Middle East is one of the fastest-growing sources of capital in private markets, and investors here are increasingly sophisticated about how they want exposure to the asset class,” Mallah said. “Establishing our presence in ADGM reflects our strong commitment to the region as we deepen our long-term engagement across the wider GCC.” He added that Pantheon’s reputation in secondaries closely matches what investors in the region are asking for.
Florence Dard said Pantheon is coming off a record fundraising year and continues to see increasing capital formation across its platform, with a growing share coming from the GCC. Arvind Ramamurthy, Chief Market Development Officer at ADGM, welcomed Pantheon and said its decision to establish its Middle East presence in Abu Dhabi reflects the continued appeal of the centre to global private markets firms that want to work with institutional investors in the region.
Pantheon at a glance
| Indicator | Figure |
|---|---|
| Discretionary assets under management, 31 March 2026 | Approximately USD 84 billion, about AED 308 billion |
| Founded | 1982, headquartered in London |
| Private equity secondaries | Since 1988 |
| Asset classes | Private equity, infrastructure, private credit |
| Ways of investing | Primary fund commitments, secondary purchases, co-investments |
| Clients | Institutional investors and private wealth advisers |
| Locations after Abu Dhabi | 13, across four continents |
| Managing Director and Head of Middle East | Firas Mallah, based in Abu Dhabi |
| Reports to | Florence Dard, Chief Client Officer |
| AMG affiliate | Since 2010 |
AED amounts are converted at the fixed peg of AED 3.6725 to USD 1. The founding year, the office list and the AMG affiliation come from the Pantheon profile on the AMG website; the other figures come from the Pantheon announcement.
Why secondaries matter to Gulf investors
Pantheon pioneered private equity secondaries in 1988 and later extended the approach to private credit and infrastructure. It describes its private credit and infrastructure secondaries franchises as among the first and largest in the industry.
A secondary transaction lets an investor buy an existing stake in a private markets fund, or in a portfolio of assets, from a holder who wants to exit before the fund ends. The buyer enters a portfolio that is already built, so it can see what it owns, and it may receive distributions earlier than it would from a new fund. It also reduces the J-curve, the pattern in which a new private equity fund shows negative returns in its first years because fees and capital calls come before any exits.
Pantheon said these strategies are particularly relevant to investors who want access to mature portfolios while reducing some of the risks of committing to newly established funds. For Gulf allocators that have built large private markets programmes over the past decade, secondaries are also a way to manage those programmes: to rebalance, to take liquidity or to add exposure to specific vintages.
ADGM keeps adding global managers
Pantheon lands in a centre that has been growing quickly. ADGM ended the first half of 2026 with assets under management up 54 per cent year on year, 190 fund and asset managers, up 23 per cent from 154, and 276 funds, up from 209. The managers that set up in ADGM during that half oversee more than USD 2.1 trillion in global assets, about AED 7.7 trillion. Active licences reached 13,974, with 1,814 issued in the half, and the workforce on Al Maryah and Al Reem Islands reached 49,027 people, up 34 per cent. We covered those results in our report on ADGM results for the first half of 2026.
The list of recent arrivals includes Blue Owl Capital, Vista Equity Partners, Man Group, Barings, Bain Capital, Cantor and Adapt Investment Managers. A week before Pantheon, on 23 September 2026, EQT opened its first Middle East office in ADGM with USD 389 billion under management. The two moves are different in kind. EQT built an investment platform to look for deals across the Gulf, while Pantheon opened a capital formation office that raises money from regional investors for its global strategies.
What the move means for business in the UAE
No rule, fee or licensing threshold changed on 30 September 2026. The opening matters to three groups, and in different ways.
The first group is investors based in the UAE: family offices, investment holding companies and institutions. They now have a senior Pantheon team in Abu Dhabi for private equity, infrastructure and private credit programmes, including secondaries. For families that are formalising how they hold and pass on capital, this is one more local counterparty, a trend we described in our article on the UAE as a hub for family wealth and succession planning.
The second group is operating companies. For them the direct effect is limited, because the Abu Dhabi team is raising capital, not deploying it into UAE businesses. Pantheon’s money reaches companies through the funds and co-investments it backs, so a founder looking for equity should talk to the fund managers themselves.
The third group is professionals in fund marketing, investor relations and private markets. Offices like this one add senior roles in Abu Dhabi, and each hire needs a work permit and a residence visa through the employing entity.
Checklist for investment and family structures in the UAE
- Define what the structure does. Holding the owners’ own investments, managing money for others and running a trading business are different activities with different licences.
- Check whether the activity is regulated. Managing or advising on third party money in ADGM needs authorisation from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, which is a separate process from registering the company.
- Choose the jurisdiction for the purpose. ADGM and DIFC offer common law courts and financial regulators; a mainland or other free zone company usually suits trading and service businesses better.
- Prepare source of funds and ownership documents early. Banks ask for them when you open an account, and fund managers ask for them again when you subscribe to a fund.
- Plan residency for the principals. Investors who qualify can apply for a Golden Visa; staff need employment visas through the company.
- Build real substance. An office, local management and a working bank account make a structure credible to banks, regulators and counterparties.
How Atlant Capital can help
We handle company formation in the UAE on the mainland and in free zones, including holding and investment holding structures. We open corporate and personal accounts and prepare the documents that banks actually ask for, a process we explain step by step in our guide to opening a bank account in the UAE and deliver through our bank account opening service. We also arrange work permits and residence visas for founders and staff, and Golden Visas for investors who qualify.
Two boundaries are worth stating plainly. FSRA authorisation is a specialised regulatory procedure run by licensed compliance consultants, and we do not provide it. Accounting, audit and tax filing are done by licensed accounting firms from our partner network. If ADGM is the right answer for your structure we will say so, and if it is not we will say that too. Tell us what you are building and we will map the structure to it.
The bottom line
Pantheon brings about USD 84 billion of private markets experience and a dedicated Middle East head to ADGM, a week after EQT. Its Abu Dhabi office is built to raise capital from Gulf investors rather than to buy local companies, so its first effect will be felt by family offices and institutions in the UAE, and by the professionals who serve them.
Source: The National, Pantheon press release.
FAQ
Where has Pantheon opened its new office?
Pantheon opened its first office in Abu Dhabi, in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), announced on 30 September 2026. The office takes the firm to 13 locations across four continents. None of its other twelve offices, which include London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo, is in the Middle East.
How much does Pantheon manage?
Pantheon manages approximately USD 84 billion in discretionary assets as of 31 March 2026, about AED 308 billion. It invests in private equity, infrastructure and private credit through primary fund commitments, secondary purchases and co-investments, for institutional investors and private wealth advisers. The firm was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in London.
Who leads Pantheon in the Middle East?
Firas Mallah was appointed Managing Director and Head of Middle East. He joins from Sagard, where he was Managing Director and Head of MENA, and has more than 23 years of experience in capital formation and investor relations in the region. He is based in Abu Dhabi, reports to Chief Client Officer Florence Dard and leads fundraising from sovereign wealth funds, family offices and financial institutions.
What are private equity secondaries?
Secondaries are purchases of existing stakes in private markets funds or asset portfolios from investors who want to exit early. The buyer enters a portfolio that is already built, may receive distributions sooner and reduces the J-curve of a new fund. Pantheon pioneered private equity secondaries in 1988 and has since added private credit and infrastructure secondaries.
