(Bloomberg) -- Saudi private equity firm Jadwa Investment Co. is planning to raise as much as 2 billion riyals ($530 million) for a new fund to boost dealmaking in fast-growing oil exporting countries in the Middle East.

The firm is raising its first blind pool fund with a view to taking significant minority stakes in as many as 12 companies over the next three years, Jadwa said in a statement to Bloomberg. It will target investments in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, an economic bloc known as the Gulf Cooperation Council, of GCC.

“The fund seeks to capitalize on the positive economic backdrop, attractive demographics, and rising income in the GCC region by targeting significant minority and/or majority stake acquisitions and cash-injections in growing companies across a diverse set of industries,” Jadwa said in the statement.

Jadwa is one of the most active alternative asset managers in Saudi Arabia, with total client assets of about $20 billion. The company plans to invest about $530 million in private equity deals and list three of its portfolio companies by 2025, Tariq Al-Sudairy, managing director and chief executive officer, told Bloomberg last year.

Read More: Saudi Equity Firm Jadwa Plans $532 Million Deals, More Listings

On Monday, Jadwa also said it acquired Blackspoon Group, which operates restaurant chains including Allo Beirut in the Middle East. The deal is Jadwa’s second in the consumer sector, and comes four months after it bought a 35% stake in Gissah Perfumes Co. ahead of the fragrance company’s planned initial public offering.

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