In this Dubai Eye 103.8 radio interview, Ruya Partners’ Partner and Chief Capital Formation Officer, Omar AlYawer, discusses the early refinancing of the firm’s $25 million private credit facility for GymNation, the leading UAE-based fitness chain. The facility was refinanced ahead of schedule through a new $100 million facility from HPS and BlackRock — a transaction that not only repaid the original financing but also provides GymNation with additional growth capital to expand further. The deal underscores both GymNation’s strong performance and the rising appetite of global institutional lenders for high-quality regional credit.
Omar reflects on how the original financing was structured, how the investment performed through the holding period, and what a refinance and upsize of this scale signals about the growing maturity of private credit in the Gulf. The conversation also explores why private credit has become one of the fastest-growing alternative asset classes in the region, and how it helps fund well-run businesses that are often underserved by traditional bank lending.