Dubai private equity house Abraaj raises $191m for Mexico investment



Private equity firm Abraaj Group has raised $191 million through Mexican publicly traded certificates for investments in the country, it said on Tuesday.

Certificates of Development Capital (CKD) will be used to invest in mid-sized Mexican businesses that have strong growth potential and which show capabilities of regional and international expansion, Abraaj said in a statement.

Target sectors for the CKD include retail, fast-moving consumer goods, healthcare, education, logistics and financial services. Abraaj said the first transaction using the development capital may be closed by the end of the year.

Abraaj is a Dubai-based private equity firm which tends to focus on emerging markets. In recent transactions, Abraaj with TPG Capital purchased a majority stake in Saudi Arabian fast-food chain Kudu earlier this year.

Abraaj has made 14 investments worth $350 million in Mexico, Colombia and Peru in various sectors since 2007, it said.

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Family reunited

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.+

She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.

She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.

The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.

She was held in her native country a year later.+

'Worse than a prison sentence'

Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.

“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.

“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.

“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.

“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.

“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”

Could We Be More

Artist: Kokoroko
Label: Brownswood Recordings
Rating: 3.5/5

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