It’s been seven years since The Abraaj Group raised more than a billion dollars for a new fund. In the meantime, the Dubai-based private equity firm has focused on smaller regional vehicles, raising a few hundred million at a time to invest in North Africa, Southeast Asia or Turkey.
But that’s all about to change. Abraaj is planning to raise somewhere between $5 billion and $8 billion by the end of this year, according to a Bloomberg report, although the fund is still in its early stages and that target might change. If Abraaj does reach that $8 billion upper limit, it would double the size of what was previously the firm’s largest pool of capital: Abraaj Private Equity Fund III, which closed on $4 billion in 2008.
Founded in 2002 by Arif Naqvi, Abraaj invests primarily in what are commonly considered emerging markets (a moniker Naqvi himself rejects), with a major presence in Africa and Asia. The firm has raised more than $2 billion in fresh funding since the start of 2013 that it has spread across a range of different funds. So this sort of concentration of capital in a single vehicle seems to mark a shift in the firm’s strategy—or at least a tweak to it.
It’s easy enough to read that Abraaj invests in a diverse range of countries, but it’s another thing to see it. Here’s a rundown of a few of the firm’s recent investments that are headquartered in locales that are usually more out of the way in the world of PE.
PitchBook Platform users can view all of Abraaj’s PE deals here.
Want to learn more about how PitchBook can help your business? Contact us today to set up a free trial and personalized walkthrough of our software.
Article by Kevin Dowd – PitchBook
