Fund Placement

Institutional-grade, hyper-local capital raising in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Qatar

Fund Placement

Greenstone specializes in placing funds in the main GCC countries of the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, State of Qatar and Sultanate of Oman.

Greenstone:

  • Raises capital across the spectrum of alternatives (PE, VC, Growth Equity, Private Debt, Real Estate, Infrastructure, Other Real Assets, and more)
  • Selectively chooses fund manager partners to match up with investor demand
  • Seeks non-conflicting products with strategy, sector, and geographic differentiation to provide GCC-based investors diversification
  • Estimates demand for every fund/product prior to engaging in a mandate to raise capital
  • Conducts due diligence on each fund manager and the fund/product prior to each mandate

Our Process

Our Process

Pre-Engagement

  • Initial screening to identify potential investor demand
  • Discovery calls to understand fund strategy, sector, geography, track record, and capital raising goals
  • Build relationships between senior members of both firms
  • Detailed proposal and discussions around placement plan
  • Product Committee final review with senior members of both firms to build conviction about investor demand
  • KYC/AML review
  • Mandate agreement finalized and signed

Upon Engagement

  • Kickoff call between Greenstone and Fund Manager
  • Sales training
  • Finalize regional regulatory compliance and fund registrations, as appropriate
  • Prepare region-specific marketing materials
  • Prioritize investor target list based on deep relationships and substantial intelligence about each investor
  • Organize formal investor meetings to identify interested investors
  • Prepare and organize a customized multi-country roadshow

Investor Book Building

  • Conduct two initial roadshows (four to six weeks apart) to cover the region
  • Each roadshow will cover a specialized list of investors that are pre-selected and pre-marketed for the placement
  • Length of a roadshow is four working days (Sunday through Wednesday or Monday through Thursday)

Conversion

  • Leverage roadshows to schedule follow-up meetings with investors from previous roadshows who have demonstrated interest and activity towards investing.
  • Assist and facilitate investor due diligence processes.
  • Continue to engage new highly-targeted investors to build the pipeline.
  • Facilitate the work required to reach soft commitments.

Closing

  • Facilitate advanced due diligence, assist investors with site visits, coordinate reference calls, and prepare investors for IC.
  • Assist in the negotiation of subscription terms, as required.
  • Assist investors with completing the fund managers’ KYC process.
  • Close commitments.

GCC Investors: A Changing Landscape

Sovereign Wealth Funds
SWFs have become increasingly internationally focused over the last 10 years. Their role in developing the regional asset management industry will remain limited. These organizations are often set up with a specific mandate to deliver returns for future generations, using proceeds from natural resources trade surpluses.

Social Insurance and Pension Funds
These organizations have been investors in the domestic markets/companies for many years. Internally they are reviewing their returns profile and reexamining asset allocation with a view to considering alternative asset investment opportunities. Examples include General Organization for Social Insurance in Saudi Arabia or the Abu Dhabi Retirement Pension & Benefits Fund in the UAE.

Educational Endowments
This pool of capital is emerging and will increase meaningfully due to sociopolitical changes in the region. Examples include King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, which announced an endowment of $10 billion, one of the largest in the world. It is currently difficult to accurately calculate how much this emerging pool of capital may have in reserves, but there are certainly a number of universities in the region that are worth exploring. The American University in Beirut, Sharjah and Cairo are examples.

Ultra High Net Worth Individuals and Family Offices
Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (“UHNWIs”) and Family Offices remain the largest and most important investor types in what is easily the wealthiest region in the world. With over 400,000 UHNWIs in the region (three quarters of the number in China as a whole), and estimated aggregate liquidity of $3 trillion (according to a 2015 study) funds cannot afford to ignore Family Offices and UHNWIs.

Institutional Investors
Institutions including central banks, commercial banks, insurance companies and other non-financial corporates are key sources of capital for regional funds.

Accredited Investors
Accredited Investors are a significant source of investments and liquidity in the GCC region. Their ability to participate across various asset classes will increase over time as GCC countries introduce regulatory provisions enabling access to foreign investment products. High income retail groups, mostly the local population, typically utilize wealth managers and private bankers to access international investments. That said, there is a vast reservoir of cash and deposits waiting to be tapped and can be targeted by the regional asset management industry today through fund structures.

GCC Investor Breakdown

GCC Investable Wealth ($ billion)

GCC SWF Assets ($ billion)

Back To Top