Waha Capital aims to close a regional private equity deal in early 2011 in
partnership with France’s
AXA Private Equity, a Waha executive said on Wednesday.
Waha is eyeing joint investments with AXA in the Middle East North Africa
(MENA) region, said Wael Aburida, director of M&A and strategic
investments.
“We are looking at opportunities exclusively together. Our goal for the
first deal is first quarter 2011,” he told Reuters at a private equity
conference, declining to elaborate.
The Abu Dhabi
government holds a 15-percent stake in Waha, according to Reuters data. The
firm is involved in real estate and leasing for the oil and aviation sectors
including deals for military planes for the UAE Armed Forces.
Paris-based AXA PE is a unit of insurer AXA and has $25
billion under management.
Waha, whose past private equity deals include investing in Gulf oil and gas
group GMMOS through its Waha Maritime unit, also plans to launch some funds to
invest primarily in the UAE and the Gulf Arab region, Aburida added.
“The sectors are opportunistic but core areas are industry,
manufacturing, healthcare and education.”
A $500 million MENA Infrastructure Fund launched in 2006 jointly by Waha
Capital, HSBC and Dubai International Capital (DIC) is about one-third invested
currently, he said. (Reuters)
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