The Abraaj Group

The Abraaj Group

Type	Limited liability company
Industry	Private Equity
Founded	2002
Founder	Arif Naqvi
Key people	Mustafa Abdel-Wadood (Board Member and Partner) Wahid Hamid (Board Member and Partner) Sev Vettivetpillai (Board Member and Partner)
Products	Investments, private equity funds
Total assets	c. US$9 billion
Number of employees	>300
Website	abraaj.com

The Abraaj Group is a private equity investing firm operating in the growth markets of Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Turkey. Founded in 2002 by Arif Naqvi, the Group has over 25 offices spread across five regional hubs in Istanbul, Mexico City, Dubai, Nairobi and Singapore.

Abraaj currently manages c.US$9 billion in assets across regional, sector and country-specific Funds.^[1]

Business Segments

The Abraaj Group is organized into two segments:

• Private Equity - Management of private equity Funds
• Real Estate - Management of real estate investment Funds

Private Equity The Abraaj Group is an investor in global growth markets and has made more than 140 investments across 10 broad sectors. These businesses currently include:

• Network International, the largest independent payment solutions provider in the Middle East and Africa;
• Orca Global, a regional English-language education service provider with a dominant market share position in Singapore;^[2]
• Fan Milk, the market leader in frozen dairy products in West Africa;^[3] and
• Acurio, a leading Peruvian restaurant group

Real Estate Abraaj’s Real Estate Investment Team has invested throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and Turkey regions. The investment strategy's focus was to provide stable returns to investors and had three strands:

• Buying high-quality properties in sectors including offices and student accommodation where there were large supply-demand gaps
• Purchasing operationally essential real estate such as supermarkets in sectors where there is a lack of institutional capital
• Investing in alternative investment structures providing stable cash flows

The properties include The 47th office building, Republika and Panda supermarkets.

Recognition

2014

• “Private Equity House of the Year” for Sub-Saharan Africa by Private Equity Africa Awards^[4]
• “Special Recognition Award for Deal of the Year” (for Fan Milk) by Private Equity Africa Awards^[5]

2013

• “Best Private Equity House in Europe, Middle East and Africa” by EMEA Finance's Achievement Awards ^[6]
• “North African Private Equity House of the Year” by Private Equity Africa Awards ^[7]
• "Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Leadership" (for Abraaj Group Partner Sev Vettivetpillai) by Private Equity Africa Awards ^[8]
• “Exit of the Year” (for Golden Lay, an Abraaj partner company in Zambia) by Private Equity Africa Awards ^[9]
• “Oslo Business for Peace Award” (for Abraaj Group CEO Arif Naqvi) by Business for Peace Foundation ^[10]

Sustainability Initiatives

In 2012, The Abraaj Group became a signatory to the UN Global Compact and that same year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed CEO Arif Naqvi to the Board of the Global Compact. ^[11]

Since its founding in 2002, environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations have been a part of Abraaj’s investment process. Its consideration of ESG issues in each investment adds value locally by ensuring that each company brings high standards of sustainable business practice to its communities.^[12]

Notable key milestones

• 2014: The Abraaj Group establishes the Abraaj RCA Innovation Scholarship at the Royal College of Art in London. It is the largest scholarship of its kind globally for postgraduate studies in the creative sector ^[13]
• 2013: The Abraaj Group signs up as a Global Community Partner of the Global Shapers Community ^[14]
• 2013: The Abraaj Group establishes the Peter Heath Women’s Entrepreneurship Fund at the American University of Sharjah (AUS)^[15]
• 2013: The Abraaj Group and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Launch ‘Philanthropy Age’. Philanthropy Age is a quarterly publication intended to move people into changing the nature of their giving and to think about how and where they are giving. It is a call to action.^[16]
• 2012: The Abraaj Group funds the Professorship in Private Equity at the American University of Cairo^[17]
• 2011: The Abraaj Group partners with Injaz al Arab^[18] and Education for Employment^[19] to provide support for entrepreneurship and education for youth
• 2011: The Abraaj Group establishes Wamda, an online platform designed to empower entrepreneurs across the MENA region and to support the entrepreneurial ecosystem ^[20]
• 2010: The Abraaj Group establishes the Private Equity Professorship at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)^[21]
• 2010: The Abraaj Group partners with Endeavor and plays an active role in the expansion of Endeavor into Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, UAE and South East Asia^[22]
• 2010: The Abraaj Group holds the Celebration of Entrepreneurship (CoE), attracting 2,400 entrepreneurs, innovators, business leaders, investors, students and academics from 62 countries
• 2009: The Abraaj Group establishes the Mustaqbali Foundation to provide education for orphans in conflict affected Gaza^[23]
• 2008: The Abraaj Group launches the Abraaj Group Art Prize (AGAP), the flagship of its arts patronage program. This is the world’s only art prize to reward proposals rather than completed works of art ^[24]

References

External links

• Official website

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