AED 25B+
Project value directed in fifteen years of marine and infrastructure construction
AED 600M
Combined enterprise value of businesses prepared and assessed for exit
1–2x EBITDA
Extra value when a business is properly prepared before it goes to market
Founder Profile
Dries Bogaert
“I read the operation behind the P&L.”
Founder of DY Partners — exit readiness and M&A advisory.
Fifteen years running infrastructure megaprojects.
Business owner and investor in the UAE.
Panama Canal locks
Third set of locks, from 2011.
Background
Fifteen years running the operations behind megaprojects.
I’m a civil and structural engineer. I started in 2010 with Jan De Nul. From 2011 I worked on the new Panama Canal locks, then on projects in Colombia, Peru, Chile, Mali and South Korea. From 2017 in Abu Dhabi with NMDC. In 2023 and 2024 I was Project Director on NMDC’s megaprojects division, responsible for the reclamation of 450 million m³ for an artificial island development.
These projects meant full responsibility for cost, planning, subcontractors, safety and client reporting, with a workforce of more than 2,000 people. Delivered on time — on these contracts, delays cost liquidated damages per day.
Working on four continents also taught me to work with different cultures. Teams, clients, authorities and subcontractors from all over the world — each with their own way of doing business. I understand those differences and I adjust to them. It also built a worldwide network I still use today, on both sides of a transaction.
Island reclamation
450 million m³ of fill. Project Director, 2023–2024.
The Switch
The switch to M&A.
I prepared the move over several years. I earned an MBA from the University of Liverpool and later completed an M&A programme at Columbia Business School. My partners and I built and acquired several businesses in the UAE, and I invest through private equity syndicates. So I know the buy side from my own transactions: due diligence, deal structuring, and what happens after completion.
The final push came from a friend who wanted to sell his business. He needed somebody who understood his operations, could explain the potential to a buyer in the buyer’s terminology, and whom he could trust. I took him through the process and delivered. In 2025 I founded DY Partners.
Why DY Partners
Why we are the right partner to prepare and sell your business.
— We understand your business. We walk through the operations before we talk about a multiple. You don’t have to explain your own company twice.
— We see what’s behind the numbers. We can show a buyer what caused a dip, what it cost, and that it’s fixed — with evidence. That is real money at the table.
— We translate between seller and buyer. You speak operator, the buyer speaks investor. We present your business in the format investors expect, and explain to you in plain language what they are asking and why.
— We give the buyer a value creation plan. A buyer pays for what he can build in the next three years. From our own operational experience we see where your business has room to improve, and we hand him that plan with the evidence. It raises what he is willing to pay.
Everything we fix also makes the business easier to run while you still own it.
This is what DY Partners does: exit readiness for business owners in the UAE and Europe who are thinking about selling their company within the next two years. Business valuation, investor-grade financials, due diligence preparation and M&A advisory — from an experienced advisor who knows the operations, not only the numbers.
Career
The record.
2010–2025
Project Management — Large-Scale Infrastructure
15 years managing major infrastructure projects with global EPC contractors across the UAE, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
2023–2024
Project Director
Led a major infrastructure project valued at AED 20B+, with a workforce of 2,000+.
Alongside
M&A, Business Ownership & Investing
MBA from the University of Liverpool and M&A studies at Columbia Business School, alongside building, acquiring and investing in UAE businesses.
Detail
At a glance.
BASED
Dubai, UAE — in the Gulf since 2017
LANGUAGES
English, Dutch, French, Spanish
EDUCATION
MSc Civil & Structural Engineering · MBA, University of Liverpool · M&A Programme, Columbia Business School
MARKETS
UAE and GCC · Belgium and the Netherlands, in Dutch · wider Europe
CLIENT PROFILE
Owner-managed businesses, AED 5M–200M revenue, selling within 0–2 years
ALSO
Private pilot’s licence
Speaking & Media
On the record.
Podcast with Daniel Jevaux
How to prepare your business for sale
Buy & Sell Business Talks · Just Business Talk
Exit readiness and selling businesses in the UAE
Contact
Tell me what your business does. I will tell you what a buyer sees.
Thinking about selling your business? Send me a message. Tell me where you are today and what you’re considering, and I’ll give you a buyer’s perspective on what matters most.
Confidential. No pitch. Just a direct conversation.
The Problem
Most advisors who sell companies have never run one.
They come from finance. They can read your P&L, but they don’t understand your operations. They can’t explain to a buyer how your business works, why a number dropped, or where the potential sits. And they don’t tell you how to prepare your business for sale — what you can fix before going to market, so you sell at a higher price.
The result: in the UAE, four out of five businesses that go up for sale never sell. Not because of the price. Because the value could not be proven.
Founder, DY Partners
Exit readiness and M&A advisory for business owners in the UAE and Europe.
2025–