Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Aliph Capital, a GCC-centric private equity firm, today announced that it has secured a $125 million investment for its maiden fund, Aliph Fund I (LP), from ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company.

Based in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), Aliph Capital is an alternative investment manager founded by Huda Al Lawati, a leading private equity professional with over 20 years of experience in emerging markets.

Aliph Fund I (LP) is a $250 million target private equity fund domiciled in ADGM aiming to invest in high quality mid-sized companies in the UAE and across the GCC to accelerate their expansion and growth trajectory.

Aliph Capital will seek to acquire sizeable, active positions in privately owned mid-market companies across the GCC that possess robust business fundamentals to realize attractive returns, through active ownership combined with strong value creation opportunities, institutional governance standards and digitalization.

Aliph has the investment and operational expertise to accelerate growth and scale up in companies by helping founders adopt technology platforms and tools to grow revenues, optimize operations, and cut costs to ensure the long term sustainability of its portfolio companies to generate attractive returns.

Huda Al-Lawati, Founder and CEO of Aliph Capital, said: “I am delighted and honored that ADQ has chosen Aliph Capital for this significant investment. The timing is perfect for GCC-based private equity to invest in the region’s midmarket growth stars, who - when fully equipped with digital and tech enablement levers - will generate significant returns and power the ongoing diversification and transformation of the GCC economy.”

Murtaza Hussain, Chief Investment Officer – Alternative Investments and M&A at ADQ, commented: “Our investment in Aliph Capital underlines our commitment to delivering on a financially driven mandate that creates long- erm value for Abu Dhabi. Building a strategic partnership with an Abu Dhabi based private equity fund dedicated to serve SMEs further supports our aim to accelerate sustainable economic development and growth within the UAE and region. Together, we will work in partnership to capture growth opportunities, which complements our core portfolio and enable us to generate attractive, risk-adjusted returns.”