Markaz Hosts “House Views” Webinar Series on Markets, Private Assets, and Real Estate

Kuwait Financial Centre “Markaz” hosted a three‑part Markaz House Views webinar series, bringing together investment professionals and specialists to discuss developments shaping the global and regional investment landscape across public markets, private assets, and real estate. Designed for professional and qualified investors, the series addressed the implications of geopolitical developments on market behavior, the growing role of private infrastructure and private credit in portfolio construction, and evolving dynamics across international and regional real estate markets.

The opening session, hosted by Mr. Raghu Mandagolathur, Chief Executive Officer – Marmore MENA Intelligence, explored how geopolitical developments continue to influence investor sentiment, capital markets and risk transmission, particularly through energy markets, trade flows and inflation. While such developments can trigger short-term volatility, discussions highlighted that historical market patterns have often shown limited long-term structural disruption. This reinforces the importance of disciplined portfolio construction grounded in diversification and risk management. The session also addressed the GCC’s relative positioning, noting the region’s fiscal strength while emphasizing the need for selectivity as capital flows shift across sectors and geographies.

Private assets were in focus for the second session as Mr. Kashish Tandon, Executive Vice President – Investment Advisory, talked about how Private infrastructure has emerged as the essential architect of global prosperity, transitioning from a discretionary diversifier to a mission-critical strategic core allocation.  Private Infra sits at the intersection of powerful structural forces, including the accelerating demand for digital capacity driven by AI, the global shift toward energy transition and electrification, and the strategic need for supply chain resilience. By providing exposure to high-barrier, tangible assets that deliver services critical to society, private infrastructure offers a unique combination of defensive stability and structural growth. As the global economy undergoes a fundamental regime shift, these real assets serve as a vital backbone, offering investors resilient, inflation-linked income and a stabilizing force against broader market volatility.

The discussion on private credit session, hosted by Mr. Shamlan Al Bahar, Senior Analyst – Investment Advisory, highlighted a broader structural shift in global lending, as tighter regulatory requirements continue to reshape the role of traditional banks. This has created opportunities for private credit to expand as a flexible, customized, non‑dilutive financing channel. Key portfolio considerations included income generation, diversification beyond public fixed income, and downside protection through senior secured structures and collateral-backed lending. Manager selection also matters more than ever, given the wide dispersion in performance, underwriting discipline, and risk management across private credit managers.

The final session examined real estate across international and regional markets. Hosted by Mr. Sandeep Pathak, Chief Executive Officer for International Real Estate – Margulf International Real Estate, the international segment provided insights into U.S. real estate conditions, including transaction activity, lending dynamics, and portfolio-level observations, alongside an overview of Markaz’s investment platform and track record across the U.S. and Europe.

The regional real estate segment, hosted by Mr. Khaled Al‑Mubarki, Senior Vice President –MENA Real Estate, focused on market dynamics across Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, highlighting real estate’s role as a defensive, income-generating asset class during periods of uncertainty. Discussions also addressed how domestic market structures, capital flows and investor sentiment may influence transaction activity and overall market stability in the near term.

Through the Markaz House Views webinar series, Markaz continues to engage with investors by sharing perspectives across key asset classes and market themes, supporting informed decision-making in an evolving investment environment.