As part of the firm’s Private Equity and Sovereign Wealth Fund Practice leadership, Karen Khalaf and Elif Koc will support private equity funds and institutional investors in realizing value across the investment lifecycle – including strategy, sourcing, diligence, and post-acquisition support

DUBAI: Bain & Company announced today, two new Partners, Karen Khalaf and Elif Koc, in the Private Equity & Sovereign Wealth Fund practice in the Middle East. Karen and Elif will leverage their vast experience to support the further growth of Bain’s investment-related work across several sectors in the region.

Having worked with Bain across the Middle East & North America for over 10 years, Karen started with Bain & Company as an Associate Consultant in 2013 and has supported leading financial investors across geographies throughout her journey at the firm.

As a Partner, Karen will continue to bring to her sovereign wealth fund, private equity, and other institutional investor clients her unique expertise in fund strategy formulation, new fund set-up, asset allocation, and operating model redesign She will also continue to support her clients in running due diligences, sector screens, and post-acquisition engagements. 

In addition to her client work, Karen has been passionate about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) throughout her career and champions Women@Bain in the Middle East.

She holds a Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University as well as a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Economics from Carnegie Mellon.

“Working at Bain & Company over the last ten years has been incredibly rewarding,” said Karen Khalaf, Partner, Bain & Company. “I am honoured to take the next step in my career as a Partner at Bain & Company. I look forward to continuing to help our clients source and execute deals, generate superior value from their investments, and evolve their operating models.”

To further accelerate the growth of our senior leadership in the sovereign wealth and financial investor space, Bain has also added Elif Koc to its Middle East team. Elif joins with over 15 years of experience leading work with financial investors with a particular focus on the technology, consumer products, and retail sectors, across the full transaction cycle with an emphasis on long-term value creation and embedding stakeholder returns to investment decisions. Her main areas of expertise include buy-side and sell-side transaction strategy for trade and IPO, post-merger integration, post-acquisition value creation, portfolio planning, investment, and divestment strategies, and organic growth strategies.

Prior to Bain & Company, Elif led the Private Equity practice in MENA at another global management consulting firm. She was also leading the Technology and Consumer businesses at another consulting firm as an Associate Partner before that. Elif holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Bilkent University and an MBA from London Business School.

“I am delighted to continue my career journey at a consultancy that fosters an inclusive and a supportive culture and is consistently recognized as one of the best places to work,” said Elif Koc, Partner at Bain & Company. “The financial and strategic investment sector is a vital one in the Middle East and I am excited to be driving long-term value creation for our clients while helping Bain & Company achieve its business goals.”

Tom De Waele, Managing Partner of Bain Middle East, said, “I am really proud to welcome these two exceptional female leaders to our increasingly diverse and fast-growing Middle East Partner team. In line with our global leadership position as the consultant of choice of private equity funds and financial investors, Karen and Elif will enable us to even better cater for the fast-evolving needs of our key Middle East sovereign wealth fund clients and support them in achieving their exceptional growth and impact ambitions”