Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company has entered a strategic partnership with French investment company TRAIL to invest in SLAM, a private equity fund focused on sport, luxury, arts and music, marking a new move by the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund into cultural and experience-led sectors.The agreement makes Mumtalakat an investor in the SLAM Fund and establishes a framework for TRAIL to expand its presence in Bahrain and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council region. Under the arrangement, TRAIL will open an office in Manama to serve as its GCC hub, supporting portfolio companies seeking regional growth and facilitating capital raising across the Gulf.
The partnership was signed during the Choose France Summit, France’s flagship international investment gathering, in the presence of Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Finance and National Economy and Chairman of Mumtalakat, and Nicolas Forissier, France’s Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness.
The transaction brings together Mumtalakat’s long-term investment approach and regional reach with TRAIL’s private equity experience in consumer-facing sectors where sport, luxury, arts and music increasingly overlap. Both parties are expected to work on direct investment opportunities and support the expansion of SLAM portfolio companies into Bahrain and neighbouring Gulf markets.
Shaikh Salman said the partnership reflected Bahrain’s position as a destination for quality investment and international partnerships. He said the investment aligned with the Kingdom’s drive to diversify opportunities and support sustained economic growth through emerging sectors.
Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Chief Executive Officer of Mumtalakat, said the collaboration introduces SLAM sectors as a new asset class to Bahrain and the wider GCC. He said the partnership was structured to generate sustainable long-term financial returns while contributing to economic impact in the Kingdom.
Xavier Marin, President of TRAIL, said the convergence of sport, luxury, arts and music was creating a major value-creation opportunity over the coming decade. He said the GCC region offered significant development potential for the sectors targeted by SLAM.
TRAIL launched SLAM in 2024 as a private equity platform dedicated to companies operating across sport, luxury, art and music. The fund’s strategy is built around growth and buyout investments, with a focus on businesses that can expand geographically, strengthen intellectual property and use cross-sector partnerships to reach wider audiences.
The fund’s investment universe includes small and medium-sized enterprises in France and Europe, while allowing scope for international expansion. Its stated approach includes taking majority or minority positions in companies with growth potential, particularly where brand strength, entertainment value, cultural relevance and consumer engagement can be scaled across markets.
SLAM’s portfolio already includes assets across sport and luxury-linked segments, including AresMMA, Tech3, Marcadé and APM Monaco. These investments point to a strategy aimed at businesses that combine brand identity, audience loyalty and experiential consumption, rather than traditional single-sector private equity exposure.
For Bahrain, the partnership fits into a broader policy push to develop non-oil investment channels and deepen the Kingdom’s role as a regional financial and business hub. Mumtalakat, established in 2006 and wholly owned by the Government of Bahrain, manages a diversified portfolio of non-oil and gas assets across sectors including financial services, real estate, tourism, manufacturing, healthcare, education, telecommunications and technology.
The Manama office planned by TRAIL could give Bahrain a more visible role in connecting Gulf capital with European consumer, sport and entertainment assets. It also provides a route for SLAM-backed companies to use Bahrain as a base for regional partnerships, commercial launches and investor engagement.
The deal comes as Gulf sovereign investors broaden their exposure beyond infrastructure, energy and public markets into sectors linked to technology, media, tourism, entertainment, sport and lifestyle brands. The shift reflects an effort to capture value from changing consumer behaviour, rising live-event spending and the growing commercial power of global fan communities.
Bahrain has been seeking to sharpen its investment proposition within a competitive Gulf landscape shaped by larger sovereign funds in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. Mumtalakat’s strategy has increasingly centred on partnerships that bring external expertise into the Kingdom while improving the international reach and resilience of its portfolio.
TRAIL, founded in 2014 by Xavier Marin, operates as a European private equity platform with offices in Paris, Luxembourg and Shanghai. The firm manages more than €1 billion in assets and focuses on helping high-performing European companies expand internationally.
The SLAM strategy carries both opportunity and risk. The target sectors can command premium valuations when brands build loyal communities and scalable intellectual property, but they can also be exposed to fashion cycles, event economics, discretionary spending and execution risks in cross-border expansion.
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