UAE private assets are getting more tradable — slowly, but surely

A liquidity layer for private assets — spanning private equity stakes and venture positions, real estate fund interests, and infrastructure holdings — is growing fast in the UAE, mirroring a global shift. Secondary-market volumes worldwide crossed USD 160 bn in 2025 and could approach USD 200 bn by year-end, according to Jefferies data cited by The Platinum Capital. The UAE’s answer to that has been on display over the past few months, if not years: Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Ardian are pushing into real estate secondaries, Shuaa and Key Capital have set up a VC secondaries fund, and Stake has rolled out a secondary transfer platform for fractional property investors.

SOUND SMART- A secondary sale is exactly what it sounds like: an investor sells their existing stake in a fund, property, or company to another buyer, rather than waiting for the asset itself to be sold or the fund to wind down, the company to IPO or get acquired, or the property to be sold outright.

The shift has been years in the making, and it’s being driven by a confluence of factors. One is that the investor base is widening. Historically, private equity investors were large LPs and families that were less focused on interim liquidity, Ismail Badereldine, founder of private-market technology platform Finbursa, tells EnterpriseAM UAE. But as smaller investors and newer private-market participants enter the asset class, they are more likely to want flexibility before a fund reaches full liquidation or a direct investment reaches IPO.

The same logic is showing up in real estate: The traditional UAE model of buying, holding, and selling through a single bilateral transaction remains dominant, Matthew Green, CBRE MENA head of research, tells EnterpriseAM UAE. But there is an emerging appetite for “partial or staged exits” and faster routes to liquidity “without necessarily having to sell an entire asset.”

Green notes that the new buyer is more liquid-minded: These structures appeal to “the newer breed of younger international investors,” Green says — investors who are “globally mobile, multi-market focused, and more accustomed to the liquidity standards of equities and alternative asset platforms.” Badereldine also sees interest from family offices, funds, angel investors, and smaller individual investors — “it’s coming from pretty much everywhere,” he says.

It’s also about accessibility: “Historically, private markets were like a closed gate,” Badereldine says. Secondary trades were often possible, but they ran through closed networks and personal relationships rather than transparent infrastructure. “It was available, but it wasn’t as democratic or easily available,” he says.

…and flexibility: Badereldine says investors increasingly want the option to adjust exposure when risks shift across sectors or geographies. “[Investors think] maybe I need to rebalance. So I will sell and buy something else,” he explains.

Key Capital Managing Partner Basil Moftah echoed those statements in an interview with EnterpriseAM UAE earlier this year. “With everything happening around the world, liquidity is an ever-growing need […] it’s always been a necessary tool for people to manage their portfolios, but now with everything happening globally, especially companies taking longer to go public and investors holding onto companies for longer, we see an even bigger [window] in the region,” he adds. Longer private equity hold periods, selective IPO windows, and tougher strategic-sale exits are key reasons secondaries are becoming more mainstream, industry insiders tell us.

The current backdrop

Geopolitics is not the whole story, Badereldine says. “I don’t think it is relevant at all,” he says, downplaying the role of recent geopolitical uncertainty as the main driver of the broader trend. “It’s been the trend for the last few years and it will continue to be a big trend.”

But for real estate, it might be. “The shift in the regional environment is certainly now raising more questions about the need for diversification and limiting overall portfolio overexposure to investments in a single market or asset class,” Green says.

Rates add another layer: Green says uncertainty around the direction of interest rates, regional geopolitics, and inflationary pressure in the US could test long-term hold strategies in UAE real estate. That does not mean investors are rushing for the exits, but it does make flexible exit routes more valuable.

But there are obstacles

Retail is not here at scale yet: Fractional ownership and secondary transfer platforms remain narrow for now, Green says. “At this stage, retail participation has not materialized at scale.” Over time, he expects a broader base to emerge, including retail investors, regional family offices, institutional capital, and international private wealth — but only as supply, asset quality, portfolio size, and market liquidity improve. A lot of the secondary platforms are also new: Key Capital and Shuaa’s VC secondaries fund is only the first in the region.

The biggest bottleneck may not be capital: Badereldine says the real constraint has often been operational friction — finding buyers, matching sellers, processing trades, and giving investors visibility on available secondary openings. Technology can help investors stop relying on “one advisor you work with to try to find you a buyer or a seller,” he says.

Finbursa’s wager is that AI can cut the admin drag: Badereldine says platforms like Finbursa are using technology “to help with faster processing time” for secondary buying and exits while giving investors more information about available transactions.

Price discovery is also still thin: For real estate, Green says the biggest challenge is the lack of transaction volumes and transparent pricing. “Without volumes and public price discovery, it remains difficult for secondary market buyers to properly price fractional interests with confidence,” he says. Without reliable comparable data, bid-ask spreads can widen enough to stop transactions from progressing.

Supply is the other constraint: Assets being fractionalized or structured for secondary transfer remain a small share of the overall real estate market, Green says. “Any market to function well requires sufficient participants and sufficient product.” Until there is enough product on offer, genuine liquidity will remain hard to build.

Of course, optionality has a price: Secondary sellers often need to accept a discount, particularly in private company stakes, Badereldine says.

Plus: Regulation is still catching up. Green points to fragmentation across onshore, DIFC, ADGM, and other frameworks, each with their own rules for investment structures, transfers, and investor protections. Harmonizing those frameworks could improve efficiency and investor confidence, he says. Badereldine also says regulators need to protect both sides of transactions and reduce risks of “mistreatment or potential fraud” — too little protection would damage trust before liquidity has a chance to scale.

What comes next?

Private-market secondaries could become business-as-usual: “That’s the trend,” Badereldine says when asked whether secondaries will become a standard part of private-market portfolio management. The right digital infrastructure and regulatory oversight still need to develop, but he expects secondaries to become “more and more business-as-usual” in private-market portfolio management.

Real estate may take longer: Green expects more liquid and tradable forms of UAE real estate investment to become a lasting part of the market in the long term, but he says “the timeline will likely be longer than many market participants would like.”

Regional headwinds don’t help: “New asset classes will likely face stronger pushback than they [did] pre-conflict, with fractional ownership models and tokenization still much less understood,” Green says.