PIF-anchored Brookfield Middle East Partners raises USD 2 bn at first close

Brookfield Asset Management’s PIF-anchored Brookfield Middle East Partners (BMEP) private equity fund reached a USD 2 bn first close, with other institutional investors joining the sovereign wealth fund, according to a press release. Brookfield is also committing USD 500 mn of its own capital to the fund.

Where will the money go? Brookfield Middle East Partners will invest across Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC, with at least 50% of capital earmarked for the Kingdom. Targets include buyouts, minority growth equity, and other prospects across financial services, business services, consumer, industrials, technology, and healthcare.

REMEMBER- PIF and Brookfield agreed to create the fund back in October 2024. As part of the arrangement, Brookfield will also launch its Brookfield Academy in the Kingdom to develop local investment talent.

Brookfield’s Saudi footprint is growing fast. Its local unit, Brookfield Arabia for Business Services, received CMA approval last month to manage investments and run funds in the Kingdom. In May 2025, it launched a USD 1 bn joint with Lunate focused on residential real estate in the Middle East, with a focus on the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The PIF pattern: The fund is the latest example of PIF using its relationships with global asset managers to channel international capital into the domestic economy rather than just deploying Saudi money abroad. In the past month alone, PIF signed USD 24.5 bn in MoUs with the World Bank Group and US EXIM to draw outside capital into its portfolio companies, alongside a USD 2 bn co-investment agreement with I Squared Capital targeting infrastructure and district cooling.