Saturday, May 25, 2013
DEAD SEA, Jordan--Dubai-based private equity group Abraaj Capital is looking to launch a new $250 million fund aimed at investing in North African small-to medium-sized companies, which continue to grow at fast rates despite the political unrest that has swept through the region.
"We have just finished investing our North Africa 1 and so it is only natural we start raising North Africa 2 which we hope to launch later in the year targeting $250 million," said Ahmed Badreldin, partner and head of the Middle East and Africa region at Abraaj.
The fund's focus will be similar to the previous one, with planned investments in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, information technology, agri-business and industrials, Mr. Badreldin said. It targets Algeria and Morocco, but also Egypt and Tunisia, two countries that were at the heart of the Arab Spring political turmoil.
"These companies [small-and midcaps] are growing at 20% to 30% topline growth year on year over the last 2 to 3 years which is exactly the Arab Spring period," he said.
Separately, Abraaj in the region is looking to finalise 3 to 4 sales of existing portfolio companies this year, including Spinneys, a supermarket chain, Mr. Badreldin said.
Abraaj has around $7.5 billion in assets under management worldwide.
Write to Nicolas Parasie at nicolas.parasie@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
25-05-13 1730GMT
