JPMorgan, Partners Group Cancel UAE Events as War Drags On

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Partners Group Holding AG canceled meetings in the UAE as the Iran war led to a reassessment of events in the region.

Partners Group is moving its annual global investor meeting from Abu Dhabi to Switzerland, people familiar with the matter said, declining to be named while discussing the matter. They said the Customer General Meeting will be held on April 13th and 14th near Zurich.

JPMorgan is rescheduling the MENA Global Opportunities Conference, an invitation-only event for institutional investors, company executives and financial sponsors, other sources said. The event was scheduled to be held in Dubai on March 30 and 31.

A representative from Partners Group confirmed that the location of the event has been changed. A spokesman for JPMorgan declined to comment.

In recent years, the UAE has become a magnet for hedge funds, private equity and global banks, with many opening local offices and announcing plans to increase headcount in the region. The attacks on the UAE, which are part of Iran’s unprecedented response to US and Israeli attacks, have damaged the Gulf hub’s position as a regional safe haven.

Some Wall Street firms have responded to recent events by temporarily allowing staff in the United Arab Emirates to work remotely or from other locations. Still, most companies emphasized that they expect the region to regain its attractiveness once the region stabilizes.

The changes come after Token2049, one of the largest cryptocurrency conferences globally, said it would no longer hold its Dubai event as planned next month. The two-day event will now be postponed until April 2027.

Suhail Albaz, Partners Group’s head of the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia, said in an emailed comment that he plans to move members of his investment team to Abu Dhabi “as soon as the current situation improves.”

Partners Group was one of the first private equity firms to establish a presence in the Middle East, opening its Dubai office in 2010. The firm established its Abu Dhabi regional headquarters in 2025, and CEO David Layton told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday that the firm still plans to open an office in Kuwait.

According to sources, the Zug, Switzerland-based company is working on plans to hold its 2027 customer general meeting in Abu Dhabi.

With help from Noele Illien.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to the text.