Private Credit Titans Pack Middle East Flights to Chase Billions
- Gulf funds are biggest state-owned financiers of deals
- Individual wealth funds have seeded entire new strategies
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Jostling for space in the first-class cabin of a flight from Abu Dhabi was a who’s-who of the private credit world: Apollo Global Management Inc.’s John Zito, Blue Owl Capital Inc.’s Doug Ostrover, Sixth Street Partners’ Josh Easterly and hedge fund manager Jason Mudrick.
That the rivals — and sometime partners — found themselves sitting on the same red-eye back to New York in late 2022 was hardly a coincidence. One draw to the Gulf were NBA preseason games between the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks that attracted thousands to the Etihad Arena. The other: pots of cash at sovereign wealth funds and family offices.