Research shows that Middle Eastern capital has entered a new stage of strategic direct investment and diversified instruments in China.

China News Service, Shanghai, November 9 (Gao Zhimiao) The 2026 Shanghai International Equity Investment Seminar was held on the 9th, and the "Middle East Capital Private Equity Investment Research (2026)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Research") was released at the same time. Research shows that Middle Eastern capital in China has entered a new stage of strategic direct investment and diversified instruments.

Research points out that Middle Eastern capital has shifted from relying on overseas remote allocation to setting up localized offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong; QFLP (Qualified Foreign Limited Partner) pilots, continuation funds, and industrial joint venture platforms are rapidly emerging, and the investment logic has been upgraded from the pure pursuit of financial returns to the dual screening of "financial returns and industrial relocation."

The study found that Middle East capital's private equity investment layout in China is no longer limited to a single indirect investment method, but more often chooses the "five major investment tools", which are parent fund investment, co-investment, direct equity investment, follow-on funds, and joint venture platform models.

In terms of industry layout for the Chinese market, Middle East capital focuses heavily on new energy, AI hard technology, biomedicine, and high-end equipment manufacturing; the investment stage is highly concentrated in post-D rounds, Pre-IPO, cornerstone investments, and mature asset mergers and acquisitions, with only a small amount of early-stage venture capital being explored; geographically concentrated in the industrial cluster cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and the Yangtze River Delta; in terms of funding, the US dollar red chip structure is mainly used, and QFLP RMB investment is in the pilot expansion stage.

Huang Yan, vice chairman and secretary-general of the Shanghai International Equity Investment Fund Association and managing partner of Lingzhong Capital, said that the Middle East and China are highly complementary in terms of industrial structure and capital endowment, and there is broad room for development in two-way equity investment cooperation. He introduced that the Shanghai International Equity Investment Fund Association will be based on the two-way main line of "bringing in capital from the Middle East and going out of China's industrial capital", assisting the implementation of multiple investment tools such as QFLP, succession funds, and industrial joint venture platforms, promoting capital cooperation to truly serve the synergy of real industries such as new energy, hard technology, and biomedicine, contributing to the construction of Shanghai as an international financial center, and promoting the high-level opening up of the domestic private equity investment industry.