EM native helps develop Dubai venture

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By Jennifer DeWitt | Tuesday, January 30, 2007 12:09 AM CST | () comments

A former U.S. diplomat with Quad-City roots has been chosen to lead The Carlyle Group’s new office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Paul Bagatelas has been named managing director for investor relations and senior executive officer by Carlyle, a global private equity firm.

Carlyle received a license to operate in the Dubai International Financial Centre last fall from the Dubai Financial Services, which regulates, approves and supervises all financial institutions within the facility.

Bagatelas, 44, an East Moline native and 1981 graduate of United Township High School, most recently was a director with Credit Suisse in Dubai as team leader for special coverage in the Middle East. Previously, he was a director with Citigroup Private Bank in Dubai, Greece and Switzerland.

“We are delighted to open an office in Dubai, a dynamic and cosmopolitan city at the crossroads of international business,” David Rubenstein, Carlyle co-founder and managing director, said in a news release. “Opening this office and having Paul join the firm is an important part of our global strategy.”

In an e-mail, Bagatelas said that through the new Middle East office Carlyle will focus on the growing importance of the potential markets in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In his new role, he will work with Carlyle’s current and prospective investors throughout the Middle East and North Africa region.

The Dubai office has a staff of about 15 but expects to expand this year with two other satellite offices in Istanbul, Turkey, and Cairo, Egypt. They will employ about 10 people each. He said the staff will be dedicated to researching and investing into regional businesses and real estate.

“Our license from and regulation by the Dubai Financial Services Authority serves as the platform and hub from which we will build our local and regional private equity investments,’’ Bagatelas said in the release.

In the past 20 years, Carlyle has expanded its private equity and real estate investments outside the United States into Europe, Japan, Mexico and Asia and now the Middle East. Today, the firm has 800 employees in 30 offices worldwide. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., it now manages more than 50 funds with $50 billion in equity commitments from more than 1,000 investor clients from over 60 countries.

Bagatelas began his career with the U.S. Department of State with assignments in Washington, D.C., and at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium. He holds a master’s degree from the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts, and a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. At Georgetown, he received a Rotary Clubs International Foundation scholarship, sponsored by the East Moline Rotary Club, to study abroad for one year at Nyenrode Business University in The Netherlands in 1983-1984.

He is the son of Theodore Bagatelas, Moline, and Pauline Bagatelas, East Moline.

Bagatelas is married to Christine Lauper of Geneva, Switzerland, who he met in graduate school. They have three children, Pauline, 12, Nicolas, 9, and Emilie, 4.

Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com.

ABOUT DUBAI

Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates on the Persian Gulf. It is the most populous and second largest emirate after Abu Dhabi. Dubai is distinct from other members of the UAE in that revenues from oil account for only 6 percent of its gross domestic product.

With enormous construction and development in various industries, Dubai has attracted world-wide attention through innovative real estate projects, sports events, conferences and Guinness records.

Source: Wikipedia