Brandon Sedloff and Adel Alderbas sit down at the IPEM Private Markets Conference in Paris to discuss Wafra's distinctive approach to middle market investing. Alderbas, Chief Investment Officer at Wafra, shares how the firm leverages its dual DNA as both GP and LP to build partnerships across a $30 billion platform. The conversation explores how Wafra identifies investor entrepreneurs, structures minority GP stakes to preserve founder control, and executes operational roll-ups in overlooked sectors where institutional capital rarely ventures.
They discuss:
- Why Wafra only takes minority stakes in GPs and designs sunset provisions that reward growth
- How owning 32 GP stakes creates an "IQ multiplier" that surfaces investment opportunities years before the broader market
- The operational playbook behind roll-up strategies in marinas, express car washes, and data centers
- What separates investor entrepreneurs from talented portfolio managers during diligence
- Why returning capital to LPs during a business pivot built trust that compounded into future allocations
This episode offers a detailed look at how institutional capital, operating expertise, and a 40-year track record combine to generate alpha in the middle market.
Topics:
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:02:48) - Growing up in Kuwait's merchant culture
(00:07:21) - The power of doing a little bit more
(00:09:39) - Becoming CIO at Wafra
(00:11:42) - Wafra's 40-year heritage and LP-GP hybrid model
(00:16:58) - Pivoting from equities to middle market alternatives
(00:23:57) - Finding investor entrepreneurs in GP stakes
(00:29:11) - Minority stakes maintain alignment
(00:33:48) - Marina roll-ups and middle market operations
(00:38:35) - Data centers and the IQ multiplier from GP stakes
(00:42:00) - The lesson on fair negotiations
(00:43:22) - Focusing on the next 12 to 36 months
Links:
Adel on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adel-alderbas-7489b953/
Wafra - https://www.wafra.com/
Brandon on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsedloff/
Juniper Square - https://www.junipersquare.com/
