Executive Insight Booz & co.

Despite the financial downturn of the last few years, there is still plenty of money in the world looking for a home to call its own. Perhaps understandably, many investors are cautious about stashing that cash in the Middle East. But to ignore the region altogether could mean missing out on prime investment opportunities.  Investors’ fears may be soothed by a better understanding of the current state of private equity in the region, where the last decade saw breakneck growth followed by near whiplash-inducing collapse. A recent study by Booz & Company and INSEAD shows that up until 2000, only eight funds existed in the Middle East, with an average $37 million under management. But the region’s economic development and liberalization created opportunities and encouraged the Gulf’s sovereign wealth funds and wealthy families to look for investments closer to home. By 2004, the region had 26 funds. The subsequent increase