By : JD News Desk
Jordan Daily – BlueFive Capital has closed a $2 billion private equity fund aimed at backing large, high-growth companies across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), as the region accelerates efforts to diversify its economies and establish itself as a global investment hub.
Registered with Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the BlueFive Reef Private Equity Fund I will target both majority and minority stakes in sizeable businesses and conglomerates across the UAE and wider GCC. The firm will focus on five key sectors: healthcare, technology, hospitality, aviation, and industrial.
The fund will be managed from Abu Dhabi and aims to tap into what the firm sees as a historic economic opportunity. “Our inaugural $2 billion dedicated GCC private equity fund is a landmark achievement,” said Hazem Ben-Gacem, founder and chief executive of BlueFive Capital. “The fund will play a pivotal role in expanding the private equity marketplace in the GCC and allow us to partner with exceptional founders and management teams to support establishing global leaders that are originating from the GCC.”
The launch signals a major step for BlueFive Capital, which has rapidly emerged as one of the region’s fastest-growing global asset managers. Its 27-person investment team operates from offices in London, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Bahrain, and Beijing, giving it a footprint that straddles East and West — much like the fund’s investment thesis.
The BlueFive Capital sees the Gulf as uniquely positioned. With rising fiscal surpluses, ambitious economic reforms, and a focus on infrastructure, innovation, and diversification, the region is attracting growing interest from global investors — and producing investable companies of its own.
BlueFive Capital, incorporated in ADGM, describes itself as a global investment platform focused on high-growth economies and “transforming traditional financial models and fostering sustainable growth.”
At the center of this vision is Ben-Gacem, a Tunisian national and veteran investor with more than 30 years of experience in global private equity. Before founding BlueFive, he served as co-chief executive of Bahrain-based Investcorp, where he chaired most of its private equity investment committees and oversaw operations across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Japan.
The BlueFive board features a high-profile lineup of regional and international figures, including Sheikh Mohamed Isa Al Khalifa (Bahrain), Lord Gerry Grimstone (UK), Sheikh Mubarak Abdulla Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah (Kuwait), Prince Turki Bin Abdulaziz Bin Farhan Al Saud (Saudi Arabia), Khalid Mohamed Zaman (Oman), Fang Fenglei (China), and Adah Al Mutairi (Saudi Arabia).
With the new fund, BlueFive says it intends to provide capital, strategic guidance, and technological know-how to businesses with regional roots and global aspirations.
Ben-Gacem said the goal is to “partner with exceptional founders and management teams” and support companies capable of becoming “global leaders that are originating from the GCC.”
