KKR/Business Wire
- Partnership with Gulf Data Hub
- KKR affiliates take stake in GDH
- Sector due to reach $2.6bn
KKR, the American investment giant, and the data centre platform Gulf Data Hub (GDH), based in Dubai, have signed a strategic partnership to invest $5 billion in data centres serving the Gulf.
A joint press release on Friday said that funds “affiliated with KKR” will also acquire a stake in GDH, although it did not provide details about the acquisition.
The founder and CEO of GDH, Tarek Al Ashram, said: “The strategic partnership with KKR will enable us to leverage their deep expertise, positioning us to achieve our pan-regional ambitions.”
GDH already operates seven data centres in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and plans to expand into Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.
The deal between KKR and GDH, which was signed in Dubai, was witnessed by the UAE’s minister for AI and the digital economy, Omar Sultan Al Olama, who said it “represents a strong start to 2025 and reaffirms the UAE’s dedication to strengthening its digital infrastructure”.
The UAE currently has 38 data centres across the country, with more in the pipeline. The Emirati consultancy Blackridge said the nation’s data centre sector was expected to grow by almost 10 percent each year, reaching AED 9.7 billion ($2.64 billion) by 2029.
As of September last year, KKR had a total of $624 billion in assets under management, an 18 percent increase on the previous year. Its two co-CEOs have said they want to reach $1 trillion by 2030.
In KKR’s last quarterly report, it posted record fee-related earnings of $1 billion. Total operating earnings were $1.3 billion, a 71 percent increase year-on-year. KKR has had a presence in the Middle East for 15 years, with offices in Dubai and Riyadh.
