By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jared Kushner's global investment firm, Affinity Partners, plans to add two senior partners and is seeking to raise several billion dollars as it begins to ramp up its activities, a person familiar with the plan said on Thursday.
Kushner, who was a top adviser to former President Donald Trump but has stepped away from politics for the time being, is expected to bring in two long-time private equity executives, Bret Perlman and Asad Naqvi, as senior investment partners, the person told Reuters.
Perlman spent 14 years at Blackstone (NYSE:BX) before leaving to co-found Elevation Partners and has since been leading private investments for a family office.
Naqvi has long experience as a private equity investor, mostly recently as a senior partner at Apis, a global growth equity fund based in London.
The person, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the hires show Affinity Partners is ramping up its activities. Kushner based the firm in Miami, where he moved after Trump left office in January.
Affinity is expecting to raise several billion dollars "from a combination of American institutions, and investors as well as foreign investment institutions, including sovereign wealth funds and high net worth individuals," the person said.
Kushner is hoping to invest in American and Israeli companies that are looking for international expansion opportunities in India, Africa, the Middle East and other parts of Asia, the person said.
At the Trump White House, Kushner helped broker deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco in a six-month flurry last year. He also helped negotiate a new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
Kushner, who wants to work with Israeli and Gulf companies and investors to bolster investment between Israel and Gulf Arab countries, has already approached Saudi Arabia about creating "an investment corridor" between Israel and Saudi Arabia as a way to encourage investment between the two countries, the person said.