Blue Owl Capital has hired Haitham Abdulkarim to oversee the company’s institutional business in the Middle East, where he’ll focus on scaling investment and operations teams across Abu Dhabi and Dubai, according to a statement provided to Bloomberg News.
His hire is part of a strategic push by the asset management company to boost its capabilities in the region as it looks to secure capital commitments from family offices, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. He previously was head of UAE at BlackRock, where he was part of the founding team that established the firm’s first product dedicated to the Middle East, according to the statement.
“By expanding our on-the-ground capabilities in the market, we will be able to further drive value for our partners in the region,” Blue Owl co-CEOs Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz said in the statement.
Firms across the $1.7 trillion private credit market are seeking to build out presences in the Middle East as institutional investors such as Mubadala Investment and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority commit billions of dollars to asset class.
Last September Blue Owl received a $1 billion commitment to the firm’s credit platform from Mubadala. Earlier this year, the firm said it was partnering with Lunate, an investment manager backed by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ, to buy minority stakes in mid-size asset managers.
Blue Owl, which oversees $174 billion in assets, is finalizing plans to open its regional flagship office in Abu Dhabi in the coming months, according to the statement.