Art Dubai confirms conclusion of 10-year sponsorship deal with Abraaj
Art Dubai, the emirate’s annual art fair, said it has ended its decade-long sponsorship agreement with Abraaj Group, as the private equity operator continues to unravel following allegations of fund mismanagement earlier this year.
“The sponsorship agreement with Abraaj Group expired earlier this year and due to reasons that have been very well documented, the sponsorship will not be renewed,” a spokeswoman for Art Dubai told The
National yesterday.
“We will be announcing our new partners, who will join our existing partners, in the coming months.” Art Dubai’s existing sponsors include BMW and Ruinart, according to its website.
Abraaj sponsored the most recent edition of the fair in March and the agreement terminated soon afterwards, the spokeswoman said.
However, she said the collapse of Abraaj Group had no particular impact on Dubai’s thriving art scene, or Art Dubai’s ongoing schedule, and that the 2019 programme “continues to grow”.
Under its own initiative, Abraaj created the Abraaj Group Art Prize, which was unveiled and exhibited at Art Dubai from 2009-18.
This year the winner was Lawrence Abu Hamdan, an artist based in Lebanon and Jordan.
Abraaj is facing a financial and reputational crisis after several investors in its $1 billion Growth Markets Health Fund, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, accused it of mismanaging their investments and hired investigators to look into what had happened to the money. Abraaj has in the meantime denied any wrongdoing.
The company, once the Middle East’s biggest buyout companywith almost $14bn of assets under management, is now undergoing a court-supervised restructuring in the Cayman Islands.
Liquidators are hoping to sell parts of Abraaj including its funds management business to pay down an estimated $1bn of debt.
Ben Floyd, Art Dubai’s chief executive and founder, told The Art Newspaper publication in March that as the fair’s principal sponsor since the first event, the Abraaj brand had become synonymous with Art Dubai.
“Abraaj have been long-standing supporters of the arts and laid the foundation for corporate patronage in the region. They remain one of our most committed patrons,” Mr Floyd was quoted as saying.