Middle East Council Chair, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
-Gulf Capital
Dr. Karim El Solh is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Capital, a leading alternative asset management firm focused on Growth Markets, investing across several asset classes. Gulf Capital has been associated with some of the region’s most prominent private equity and mezzanine transactions and has won numerous awards including Best Private Equity Firm and Best Private Debt Firm in the Middle East. The Firm currently manages over $ 2.5 billion of assets across 7 funds and investment vehicles. Dr. El Solh is also the Co-Managing Partner of Gulf Related, a leading real estate development company launched in partnership with the Related Companies. Dr. El Solh is a board member of the Global Private Capital Association (formerly EMPEA) and the Chairman of the GPCA Middle East Council.
Dr. El Solh is serving or has served as the Chairman of Metito Holdings, Maritime Industrial Services, Geidea and ART Fertility and as the Director of Emirates Auction, Gulf Marine Services, Middle East Glass, Ma’arif for Education & Training, Reach Group, Depa Group, Metamed, the Galleria Mall Al Maryah Island, Antara Residential Project, NAS TPA and Aramex.
Dr Karim El Solh recently joined some of the world’s leading CEOs in supporting HRH The Prince of Wales’ Terra Carta, which provides a roadmap for businesses to move towards a sustainable future by 2030.
Prior to founding Gulf Capital, Dr. El Solh was the CEO of the leading UAE investment bank, The National Investor. Under his leadership, the Firm was involved in a number of groundbreaking private equity transactions and was ranked as the number one IPO underwriter in the Gulf. Dr El Solh was also a co-Founder of the European High Yield Capital Markets/Leveraged Buy-Outs division at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (DLJ – now part of Credit Suisse) and a senior investment banker at Citigroup.
Dr. El Solh holds a B.S. in civil engineering from Cornell University, an MBA from Georgetown University and a doctorate in economics from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po).