Abraaj to sell Dubai campus to Amanat

An initial agreement has been signed but the deal is yet to close

Abraaj Group, the buyout fund that’s undergoing a court-supervised restructuring, reached an agreement to sell its stake in Middlesex University’s Dubai campus to Amanat Holdings for about $100 million (Dh367 million), people with knowledge of the matter said.

An initial agreement has been signed and the deal is yet to close, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Dubai-based Amanat would own all of the UKbased university’s campus, which had annual revenue of about $40 million, one of the people said.

Spokespeople for Dubaibased Abraaj and Amanat declined to comment.

Amanat, which owns 35 per cent in Abu Dhabi University Holding Co. and 21.7 per cent in Taaleem Holdings, is seeking to expand its presence in the Middle East.

Restructuring approved

A court in the Cayman Islands last week appointed provisional liquidators for the holdings and investment management units of Abraaj, which was once one of the developing world’s most influential buyout firms.

The move comes 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 Co. and 21.7 per cent in Taaleem Holdings, is seeking to expand its presence in the Middle East education sector. The company has about Dh1.8 billion 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.