FOCUS-Private equity rushes to Gulf as fundraising dries up

A growing number of private equity funds are opening offices in the Gulf, hoping to deepen their ties with cash-rich sovereign wealth funds and families in the region as funding for buyouts has dried up elsewhere. While the Gulf had previously been a place where buyout groups would go to raise money to invest in other markets, increasingly they are looking to build teams on the ground, invest in local businesses and help develop the region's asset managers, private equity funds and advisers said. Global fundraising for alternative investments, which include private equity, dropped 21% to $972 billion in the year to Nov. 1 from the same period a year earlier, according to research firm Preqin.