The co-chief executives of Abraaj Investment Management (AIML) are stepping down from the board of the unit, days after the Dubai-based firm agreed to sell the bulk of the business to Colony Capital, according to Reuters.
A court in the Cayman Islands appointed provisional liquidators for Abraaj Holdings and Abraaj Investment Management (AIML) earlier this month.
Omar Lodhi and Selcuk Yorgancioglu will no longer serve as directors of the board of AIML, the company said. It added that move does not change their co-chief executive titles.
Last week, Abraaj agreed to sell its Latin America, Sub Saharan Africa, North Africa and Turkey funds management business to US investment management firm Colony Capital.
Earlier on Monday, Abraaj Group, the buyout fund that is in the midst of a court-supervised restructuring, reached an agreement to sell its stake in Middlesex University's Dubai campus to Amanat Holdings for about $100 million, sources told Bloomberg.
An initial agreement was signed but the deal is yet to close, the sources said. Dubai-based Amanat would own all of the UK-based university's campus, which had annual revenues of about $40m, one of the sources said. Spokesmen for Abraaj and Amanat declined to comment.
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Read more:
UAE regulator asks public firms to declare exposure to Abraaj
Air Arabia says total exposure to Abraaj is $336m
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Amanat shares climbed as much as 3.9 per cent in Dubai, before paring gains to 1.6 per cent at 11.30am Gulf time. The shares were poised for their biggest increase in more than a month.
“The acquisition of Middlesex came in at a really good time for Amanat and a terrible time for Abraaj, who is selling it at what I see as a discount,” said Issam Kassabieh, senior financial analyst at Mena Corp in Dubai. “The stock movement indicates investors are happy with the company moving forward with its acquisition and it’s definitely a big plus to diversify their portfolio further.”
Abraaj was once one of the developing world’s most influential buyout firms. The firm's woes come after investors, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, commissioned an audit to investigate the alleged mismanagement of funds.
Amanat, which owns 35 per cent in Abu Dhabi University Holding and 21.7 per cent in Taaleem Holdings, is seeking to expand its presence in the Middle East education sector. The company has about $490m to spend on acquisitions in health care and education, managing director Shamsheer Vayalil said in December.
The Dubai Middlesex campus opened in January 2005 and has more than 3,000 students from over 100 nations. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in a wide range of subjects.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
2019 ASIA CUP POTS
Pot 1
UAE, Iran, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia
Pot 2
China, Syria, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Qatar, Thailand
Pot 3
Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Palestine, Oman, India, Vietnam
Pot 4
North Korea, Philippines, Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen, Turkmenistan
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
World ranking (at month’s end)
Jan - 257
Feb - 198
Mar - 159
Apr - 161
May - 159
Jun – 162
Currently: 88
Year-end rank since turning pro
2016 - 279
2015 - 185
2014 - 143
2013 - 63
2012 - 384
2011 - 883
