Abraaj declined to give financial details for the
acquisition but said the combined company will manage $7.5 billion in assets
across 30 emerging countries. 
Aureos Capital Limited, based in the United Kingdom and
with about $1.3 billion assets under management, provides expansion and buy-out
capital to small and medium-sized businesses across Asia, Africa and Latin
America. 
"We are putting together two complementary
platforms. Both firms are on the ground. In the case of Aureos, they have been
investing in (small and medium enterprises) for over 10 years," Mustafa
Abdel-Wadood, Abraaj's chief executive officer, said at a news conference. 
"The deal is expected to close this
quarter." 
Aureos is active in more than 50 emerging markets and
manages 17 regional private equity funds, including its South Asia Fund. 
Abraaj has recently been keen to beef up its emerging
market presence. Last August, it bought the North African private equity
operations of French asset manager Amundi. 
The Dubai-based firm also looked at a potential
acquisition of its Egyptian rival Citadel Capital but the talks ended without a
deal. [ID:nL6E7IQ1II] [ID:nL5E7JS08O]  
"This (Aureous deal) is a very deliberate path of
going for emerging markets exposure. Part of that path is building the
expertise and the infrastructure to gain exposure to these markets,"
Abdel-Wadood added. 
In December, Abraaj exited its stake in Turkish hospital
group Acibadem in a deal which group Chief Executive Arif Naqvi said resulted
in a "significant profit" for the company.  
The PE firm, which said it plans to sell up to four of
its investments in the next 18 months, sold its stake in the Turkish firm to
Integrated Healthcare Holdings (IHH), a healthcare unit of Malaysia's Khazanah
Nasional. The deal valued Acibadem at around $1.68 billion.
The Middle East and North Africa regions are important
investment areas for private equity firms, which have raised $22.7 billion to
invest into the area in the past five years, according to figures from
London-based research firm Preqin. 

Deal activity in the region is showing signs of rebound
after a period of slowdown following the global financial crisis.