Wrotham Partners is based in London. We have one office, and it is there. We do not have an office in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Doha, Kuwait or anywhere else in the Gulf, and we do not present ourselves as having one. This note explains how a London firm covers Gulf capital, what clients and investors can expect from us, and how to check that someone claiming to act for us is genuine.
What we do. Wrotham Partners is a boutique capital advisory firm. We help Western businesses raise growth equity, private capital and debt from family offices, private investors and other capital allocators in the Gulf, across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Doha and Kuwait. Our work covers equity advisory, debt advisory, sell-side and buy-side advisory, placement agent services and Gulf capital advisory. We generally work on raises of about EUR 2 million or more, or the equivalent, and we take on a small number of mandates at a time so that senior people can lead each one.
Anyone who offers to meet you at a Wrotham Partners office in the Gulf is not acting for us.
Why London. Our clients are Western businesses, and most of the work of a raise happens close to them. Before any investor meeting, a business needs a financial model that stands up to questioning, an information memorandum that explains the opportunity clearly, an organised data room and considered answers on governance, reporting and use of funds. That preparation is done with management, auditors and lawyers, and it is easier to do well from nearby. London keeps us close to many of the businesses we advise and within reach of the Gulf.
How we cover the region. Our coverage of the GCC runs through travel and relationships. Hasan Al Karim, our Head of GCC Coverage, leads that work, and senior members of the team spend time in the region with family offices, private investors and other capital allocators. When a mandate calls for it, we arrange meetings in person in the relevant cities. Between visits the work continues by phone and email, and investors in the region deal with the same senior people a client meets in London.
Why relationships carry the weight. According to UBS's Global Family Office Report 2026, only 31% of family offices have a formal process for selecting and reviewing external providers, and 86% handle strategic asset allocation in-house. In practice, that means introductions, reputation and familiarity do much of the work that a formal procurement process would do elsewhere. Decisions are often made by a small number of senior people who have known a counterparty for some time. For an adviser, regular contact and a record investors can check matter far more than an address.
What our study says about presence. Our own market study makes a related point about fund managers. A Gulf office is not a prerequisite for raising Gulf capital, though for managers seeking sovereign anchors, a regulated presence in the DIFC, ADGM or Riyadh can strengthen the case. That observation concerns managers raising funds from the largest state investors. Our work is different: introducing Western businesses to family offices and private investors. We would rather describe how we work accurately than imply a footprint we do not have.
The model in practice. We recently advised CDN Homes, a London residential property operator, on an AED 40 million growth capital raise from family offices in Riyadh and across the Gulf, acting as exclusive placement agent and financial adviser. The company was in London, the investors were in the region, and the mandate was led by the same senior team throughout. Across their careers, including at prior firms, our team has raised more than US$2.3 billion across 34 transactions, and we describe that record as a combined one because that is what it is.
What a client can expect. Consider, as a hypothetical, a London business raising EUR 15 million in growth equity. The preparation happens with us in London over a number of weeks. When family offices in Riyadh or Abu Dhabi show interest, the senior people who built the materials with management are the ones who present them, in person where the mandate calls for it. The client is not handed to a regional team it has never met. Meeting arrangements are confirmed by email from an @wrothampartners.com address, and capital, when it is committed, moves directly from the investor to the company. We never take custody of client or investor money.
What an investor can expect. A family office or private investor in the region will hear from a small number of named people at the firm, each writing from an @wrothampartners.com address. We will not ask an investor for a fee to release, secure or guarantee anything, and we will not ask for passwords or access to any account. Any contact that departs from this is a reason to stop and check with us.
Regulation. Wrotham Partners does not hold itself out as authorised by the FCA or by any other regulator, in London or in the Gulf. Where an activity requires authorisation, it is undertaken by, or with, appropriately authorised parties. If anyone tells you that we hold a Gulf licence, or that we operate a regulated entity in the DIFC, ADGM or elsewhere in the region, that statement is wrong.
Verifying who you are dealing with. Because we have no Gulf office, anyone who claims to represent a Wrotham Partners office in the Gulf, or offers to meet you at one, is not acting for us. Our website is wrothampartners.com, and every member of our team communicates from an @wrothampartners.com email address. Our only official social profile is our LinkedIn company page. Treat with caution any message from a personal email account, from a lookalike domain with a changed letter or a different ending, from a social media account other than our LinkedIn page, or from a messaging app with no prior email contact.
A worked warning sign. Imagine, again hypothetically, that an investor in Doha receives a message on a messaging app from someone describing himself as a director in the firm's Dubai office. He proposes a meeting there next week and asks for a refundable deposit to reserve an allocation in a forthcoming raise. Each element is wrong. We have no Dubai office, our people write from @wrothampartners.com, and we never take custody of investor money or ask for payments of this kind. The right response is to stop replying, keep the messages and contact us through details found independently.
Simple checks help. Read the full sender address, since a display name can say anything. If something feels wrong, start a fresh email to contact@wrothampartners.com, typed by hand, and ask us to confirm. Do not reply to the suspicious message or use any telephone number, link or address it contains. Take particular care with any message that asks you to change payment details, to move a conversation off email, or to act within hours. Genuine work in capital raising rarely needs that kind of speed.
If you are unsure whether a contact is genuine, we would much rather hear from you than have you take a risk. Tell us what you received, and we will tell you whether it came from us. If you have already paid money or shared bank details with someone using our name, contact your bank straight away, report it to the police or your national fraud reporting service, and let us know so that we can warn others.
This commentary is provided for general information and reflects the views of Wrotham Partners at the time of writing. It does not constitute investment, legal or financial advice.