KKR & Co. appointed former U.S. Gen. David Petraeus chairman of its Middle East franchise and is setting up a local investment team, the latest major private equity firm to bolster its presence in the oil-rich region.
Petraeus is a former CIA director and was commander of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. KKR will look to build on his Middle Eastern network to strengthen ties with top officials and dealmakers in a region that’s home to wealth funds that control trillions of dollars.
The executive is already a partner at the New York-based investment firm and chairs the KKR Global Institute, the in-house division that assesses geopolitical issues and backs the company’s international growth. Petraeus said he will be spending “considerable time” in the region.
KKR’s new Middle East deals team will be led by Julian Barratt-Due, who joined the firm in 2016 and recently oversaw a multibillion-dollar investment into one of the region’s largest data center companies.
“We view the Middle East as an increasingly important destination for investment, with structural reforms, pro-investment policies and favorable demographic trends accelerating economic growth,” Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall, co-CEOs of KKR, said in a statement.
KKR has had a presence in the Persian Gulf since 2009, with offices in both the financial hub of Dubai and Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh. It moved two directors to the region last year to focus on client relations.
The firm first deployed money in the Middle East in 2019 when it partnered with Blackrock to invest in the oil pipeline network of Abu Dhabi’s national oil company, an investment it sold to a local fund last year.
Deep-pocketed governments investing heavily to diversify their economies away from oil, as well as investor-friendly reforms and low taxes, have lured investors ranging from billionaires to hedge funds to the region in recent years. In the private equity sector, Warburg Pincus and Permira have all pledged to boost headcount in the Middle East.
International funds like Brookfield Asset Management, CVC Capital Partners and General Atlantic also have a presence on the ground and have been snapping up assets in sectors including education and payments.
“The Middle East is emerging as a leading investment powerhouse,” KKR’s Petraeus said.\