(Fixes headline)

* Equity firm hopes for I.Coast deal this month or next

* Sees opportunities in various sectors

By Tosin Sulaiman

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 9 (Reuters) - Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Capital plans to make its first investment in Ivory Coast this year as the West African country rebuilds after a civil war, executives said on Thursday.

The company, with $7.5 billion in assets under management, is also looking at opportunities in Africa's health and education sectors, partners Davinder Sikand and Jacob Kholi told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa.

Ivory Coast is the world's top cocoa grower and is emerging from a decade of political turmoil that ended in a brief post-election civil war in 2011. Abraaj expects to make its first investment there "pretty soon", Kholi said.

"We have approval for a deal that's just going through completion," he said. "We expect that at the end of this month earliest, or at the end of June at the latest."

Kholi said the target company was in Ivory Coast's manufacturing and logistics sector but he did not give further details of the investment. The firm also sees opportunities in telecoms, agriculture, agri-processing and financial services.

"Because it's just emerging out of the crisis we're seeing opportunities there as a result of post-war reconstruction," he said. "The economy has to be fixed. You've had a decade of perhaps very little investment to prop the economy up."

Abraaj has more than $1.7 billion invested across the African continent, including in Nigeria and Kenya as well as in smaller markets like Rwanda and Togo.

As African incomes rise, the firm sees huge potential in the consumer goods and financial services sectors, said Sikand.

"Another important trend we're seeing is the urbanisation that's happening across Africa, the emergence of the middle class," he said. "That spins off numerous opportunities."

The firm is targeting at least two deals in Ghana's healthcare sector and another two in Nigeria's after announcing an investment in Vine Pharmaceuticals, Uganda's biggest pharmacy chain, at the beginning of this year

The investments will be made through its Africa Health Fund, initially launched by Aureos Capital which Abraaj bought last year.

Abraaj is also looking for more deals in education after acquiring a 25 percent stake in GEMS Education, the world's largest kindergarten-to-grade-12 education provider, in 2007.

Kholi said there was significant potential in Africa's education sector as governments struggle to meet growing demand for quality schools and universities from middle class families.

"Given the constraints of governments there's room for the private sector to play a significant role," he said.

The firm is in the early stages of discussions with a private university in Ghana, he added.

"The focus is to have them expand their facilities to be able to take on more students," he said.

(Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Michael Roddy)

((Pascal.Fletcher@thomsonreuters.com)(+27 11 775 3148)(Reuters Messaging: Pascal.fletcher.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: AFRICA ABRAAJ/