Martin Linder, CEO and founding partner of Global Partners: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Martin Linder, CEO and founding partner of Global Partners. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

I’m Martin, and I’m from Switzerland. I spent my childhood and did my university studies there. I had an international career, starting with investment banking at Goldman Sachs, which kind of defined the way I work and the corporate culture I got used to throughout my entire career. I was there for two years and then eventually got recruited by a private equity firm that was founded by former Goldman Sachs employees, called Partners Group, which was among the first out of Europe with significance.

When I came to Dubai about 10 years ago, I had wanted to experience another big city after living in New York and London, and I fell in love with it. At one point, I noticed that Dubai didn't have an independently managed homegrown alternative asset manager — there’s plenty of family offices with a single principal or something attached to another fund, but no independent alternative asset managers of scale.

I studied the market to try to understand what local developers do, what could be done differently, and what could work for international investors. That was the beginning of the Global Partners journey. We started when covid-19 hit, and I always say it’s best to work against the tide. Between 2014 and 2020, the real estate market was on a downward path, and people were saying there’s an oversupply problem. But I spoke with some people who inspired me, who said it’s more of a demand problem, and the question was whether it would return — and the fundamentals said that it would.

The pitch was to create a gateway for international investors to get exposure to the real estate market here. Back in 2021, you mostly had options for retail investors in the off-plan market or a few ready products that existed, but there was no institutional offering. There was also a huge market gap on the rentals side. All the big private developers do off-plan sales, but very few have a broader asset strategy where they would build and own to lease apartments and create an institutional portfolio.

With that approach, we attracted our co-founders and successfully established our

local presence. We identified the first locations for our projects and raised USD 212

mn in equity for our debut fund. Our second fund secured USD 255 mn at first close, and earlier this year we completed another close at USD 310 mn, bringing us closer to the target fund size of USD 350 mn.

We would typically enter at a time when the location is prime but undervalued because of issues that had arisen at a certain point in time. We come together with other developers to transform that master plan into an elevated luxurious neighborhood by taking a big piece of land and supporting the activity there.

In the US and Europe, there’s a lot more financial structuring that can take place compared to here, so we have to compensate here with the margins, and by trying to find different ways to be an interesting spot from a risk return profile point of view globally.

Dubai has the most interesting profile for us. It's a highly liquid market, unlike any other city in the Middle East. It is highly attractive from a macro, top down perspective, but also from a bottom up point of view. We have seen a very strong cycle until now, and is it topping out? Eventually, it will, but does it matter to us? No.

We are very disciplined at the entry level. I think it matters if you go out there and compete for pieces of land with a dozen other potential buyers and pay exorbitant prices and build your business case on high numbers, putting yourself under pressure. We operate very differently by trying to discover opportunities that are not out there in the market and unlock the potential there.

I love routine. Every day for me involves some sort of sports activity. After the summer heat, I usually start my day with a run by Kite Beach. But while it’s still hot outside, I usually move that over lunchtime and do indoor sports, like cycling. I do triathlons, so I have three disciplines to pack into my schedule somehow and spread over the week.

Travel is also big in my schedule, with the majority of our investors being from the US, Europe, etc. I try to keep the routine flexible enough with the travel schedule to adjust. Wherever I travel, I always have my running shoes with me and would run in the city, and that actually helps me get over the jet lag really easily.

I’m not the type of CEO who goes to the office to check what my employees are doing. I’m a strong believer that ownership is key. I want to have the best people on my team, and I want to give them the space to own their job by creating a supportive environment with minimal distractions and disturbances.

I believe my contribution to the team should be my energy and my passion for the business. They need to know they have a realistic but passionate leader. I think every business — and I’ve experienced that at other companies as well — in its initial phases is always on the brink of failure, with a 50/50 chance for things to either go really wrong or really right. You create success by always turning that tide to the positive side with some force, optimism, and will power.

The triathlons help. I once did a triathlon in a sandstorm here in Dubai, and we were struggling to see anything and breathing in sand — those moments really challenge you and make you want to give up, but I just kept going and finished it. In business, it’s no different — and you do it with calm and by trying not to panic.

The best piece of advice I’ve received was from one of my mentors at Partners Group, who saw my energy and my impatience, and saw me always trying to force things, and he would tell me, simply, “the water always finds its way to the sea.” I repeat that to the team now. Sometimes, there’s a rock that blocks you or you face an obstacle, but water will always find its way around. It’s really about having patience, acceptance, and finding a solution.

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