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Private capital · UAE real estate

Private real estate capital in the UAE.

ZERRA structures and places private capital in UAE real estate — development joint ventures, private credit, and stabilised income assets. We work with investors putting capital in and with developers and owners raising it.

Book a call Our strategies
AED 730M+
Capital deployed
3 strategies
Across the capital stack
Dubai · Abu Dhabi
Transaction-level market coverage
What we do for capital providers

Three ways to deploy capital.

One platform across the risk spectrum: equity upside, secured credit, and buildings that already pay.

Equity

Development joint ventures

Equity into development, from land acquisition through to later stages where the project is partly sold and under construction. We structure the terms — protections, preferred return, waterfall — and hold both sides to the same set of numbers.

JV structuringWaterfallsGovernance
Debt

Private credit

Secured lending against a single project or against a developer's holding company. We size the facility and build the security package around the actual risk in the deal.

Project or holdcoSecurity packageFixed coupon
Income

Stabilised income buildings

Whole buildings in single ownership — residential blocks and commercial assets already producing rent. Income from the day of transfer, and an asset a bank will lend against.

Single ownershipIn-place NOICore / core-plus
What we do for developers and asset holders

Funding, structuring, exit.

Advisory

We work out which capital actually fits the project — equity, credit, or a combination — and what you can realistically offer to get it. That covers the security package, the structure, how returns are split, and what an investor will want to see before committing.

Capital raising

Raising capital from family offices and UHNW investors across the capital stack. We identify the right capital for the project, structure preferred equity and co-investment terms, and hold both sides to the same numbers from term sheet to close.

Selling a building

For owners of whole buildings. We position the asset for the buyer pool that pays the most for it, package the rent roll and operating numbers the way an institutional buyer reads them, and run a discreet process through to transfer.

How we work

From first call to close.

1

Mandate

We agree the thesis, target return, ticket size, structure preferences and hold period.

2

Sourcing

Direct relationships with developers, asset owners and bank disposal teams bring deals to us before they are marketed.

3

Underwriting and structuring

Financial model, downside case, waterfall design and an investment memorandum before any capital moves.

4

Execution

Negotiation, coordination with counterparties, closing. We stay on it from LOI through to transfer.

1

Review

Send the project or the asset. We look at the numbers, the stage it’s at, and what capital it realistically needs.

2

Straight answer

If it isn’t fundable or saleable as it stands, we tell you what would have to change. No retainer to get that answer.

3

Structuring

We shape the proposition: instrument, security, return split, and the protections an investor will ask for.

4

Introduction and close

We take it to the capital it actually fits, and stay in the room through negotiation and closing.

Selected transactions

One example from each strategy.

Development JVEarly-stage entry

Residential development — plot acquisition

AED 170M
Equity ticket
Target return19% IRR
Preferred return12% p.a.
Hold3.5 years
SecurityLand
Project GDVAED 765M

Entered at land stage, so the equity carries the full development margin rather than buying into a scheme already priced for its progress.

Private creditSecured facility

Developer facility — project and corporate backed

AED 110M
Facility size
Target return12% IRR
Term3 years
RepaymentAnnual
SecurityOff-plan units, corporate guarantees, receivables
Early exitAvailable

Three separate sources of recovery — units, a corporate guarantee and receivables from an unrelated project — rather than a single charge over one asset.

Stabilised incomeIncome-producing

Residential building — JVC

AED 40M
Equity ticket
Target return7.5% net IRR
In-place NOIAED 3.6M
Occupancy98%
TenantsMulti-tenant
Hold—

Income from the day of transfer, spread across many small leases rather than resting on one anchor tenant.

Representative transactions from each strategy. These figures do not guarantee the same result on any future transaction. Full terms are shared with qualified parties on request.

Who we work with

Both sides of the table.

01 Private capital

Family offices, private investment firms and UHNW investors deploying into UAE real estate — directly or alongside us in a club structure.

02 Developers

Sponsors raising equity or credit against a project, at any stage from land through to a scheme already selling.

03 Building owners

Owners of whole buildings looking to refinance against in-place income, or to sell the asset to the buyer pool that values it highest.

Where we start

Entry points by strategy.

From
AED 50M

Development joint ventures

From
AED 30M

Private credit

From
AED 40M

Stabilised income buildings

Co-investment positions from AED 15M in joint ventures and private credit.

Who you deal with directly.

Lana Yaumenchyk, Partner at ZERRA

Lana Yaumenchyk

Partner
Dubai since 2013 Investor coverage & capital origination EN / RU

Lana is a Partner at Zerra, responsible for investor coverage and capital origination. Based in Dubai since 2013, she has spent the past four years focused on JV development equity and stabilized income-producing assets, and has been involved in closing AED 730M+ of transactions across the capital stack.

Previously, she spent over a decade in the region's media sector, working with major corporate and family-owned accounts — principals who remain part of her network today. She works in English and Russian.

Get in touch

Tell us what you’re working on.

Deploying capital or raising it — send us the outline and we’ll come back with a straight answer on whether we can help.

Submitting this form is a request for information only and creates no obligation on either side.