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 20 offices spread across five regional hubs in Istanbul, Mexico City, Dubai, Nairobi and Singapore. Abraaj currently manages c.US$9 billion in assets globally ^[1]

In April 2015, the firm closed a $990 million sub-Saharan Africa fund, its third in the region according to the company.^[2] Combined with $375 mln raised in August 2015 for a fund that will focus on North Africa,^[3] the two funds give Abraaj just under $1.4bn to invest in Africa, a record sum raised in a single year.^[4]

Business Segments

The Abraaj Group invests in private equity and in thematic businesses including healthcare, energy infrastructure and real estate.^[5]

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

Acurio, a Peruvian restaurant group;^[6]
Hepsiburada, the largest e-commerce player in Turkey;^[7]
KPN Academy, a Thailand-based multi-educational group focused primarily on the K-12 segment;^[8] and
Libstar, one of the largest unlisted food and personal care manufacturers in South Africa.^[9]

Real Estate Abraaj’s Real Estate Investment Team has invested in a range of real estate asset classes, focusing on attractive returns derived from underlying growth fundamentals such as urbanization and increased consumer spending.^[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] The Abraaj Sustainability Index (ASI), a proprietary tool launched in 2008 measures the sustainable development impact of Abraaj’s investments. Four elements are measured in the index: financial performance, environmental performance, human development and private sector and corporate governance development.^[13]

In 2014, Abraaj established the Abraaj RCA Innovation Scholarship at the Royal College of Art in London. It is the largest scholarship of its kind for postgraduate studies in the creative sector ^[14] The Abraaj Group Art Prize, the group's flagship arts patronage program, aims at empowering potential and gives often under-represented contemporary artists the resources to further develop their talent.^[15]

Abraaj is also a global community partner of the Global Shapers Community at the World Economic Forum.^[16]

References

External links

Official website

Private equity and venture capital investment firms

Investment strategy	Venture Growth Mezzanine Secondaries Leveraged buyout

History	History of private equity and venture capital Early history of private equity Private equity in the 1980s Private equity in the 1990s Private equity in the 2000s

Investors	Angel investor Corporate venture capital Commercial bank Crowdfunding Institutional investor Insurance company Investment bank Endowment Family office Fund of funds High-net-worth individual Merchant bank Pension fund Sovereign wealth fund

Private equity firms Venture capital firms Portfolio companies

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