Abraaj Capital Group Acquires Leading VC Firm Riyada to Spearhead New SME Platform.

Summary: Abraaj Capital Group announces that it agreed to acquire all of Riyada

Abraaj Capital Group announces that it agreed to acquire all of Riyada Ventures the leading venture capital firm in the MENA region. The acquisition is at the core of a major new push by Abraaj into the small andmedium enterprise (SME) space, which is aimed at stimulating and supportingentrepreneurial activity in this vital segment of the MENA region'seconomies.

Riyada Ventures, which was set up in the Jordanian capital,Amman, in 2005, this week won the 'Venture Capital Firm of the Year' awardfor a second straight year at the Private Equity World MENA 2009 conferencein Dubai.

Riyada Ventures, whose track record encompasses more than 25regional and international venture-capital transactions, also operates anoffice in Cairo. Its founder and CEO Khaldoon Tabaza has worked in the MENAventure-capital industry since 2000, prior to which he set up severalhigh-growth entrepreneurial ventures. In 2006, the World Economic Forum (WEF)named him a 'Young Global Leader'.

Riyada Ventures will be integrated by Abraaj into its newlylaunched regional SME and Entrepreneurship initiative. Khaldoon Tabaza willcontinue as the CEO of the new business line of Abraaj.

Abraaj has enjoyed significant past success in the SME space,having been an early backer of Maktoob.com, the leading Arab language portalrecently acquired by Yahoo! It was also the original institutional investorin companies of the caliber of Arabtec, Aramex and Amwal at very early stagesof their growth stories, each one resulting in significant returns for theDubai based PE firm.

Through the new initiative, Abraaj will invest hundreds ofmillions of dollars in SMEs across MENA with the aim of creating high-impact,high-growth, successful businesses to fuel innovation, job-creation,sustainable growth and economic diversification. At its core, the platformwill give enormous support to the indigenous entrepreneurship that existsacross the broader region.

Abraaj will work with governments, regional and internationaldevelopment and investment organisations, and Abraaj's investor base toprovide a pan-regional platform from which investments will be made.

In addition to the commercial objectives of the platform,Abraaj will also provide entrepreneurial support at the grassroots level inthe form of business mentoring, training and technical assistance so as tostimulate the entrepreneurial spirit in business communities across theregion.

For companies in which it invests, Abraaj will provide adedicated back-office platform to offer both strategic support services andoperational functionality to facilitate growth plans and provide mentorshipto the young entrepreneurs in the SME space, which comprises more than 80% ofeconomic activity across the MENA region.

As a further commitment to the countries in which it willinvest, Abraaj will allocate a portion of the funds raised for a given nationto the development needs of its less fortunate communities by partnering withan established sustainable development fund that provides patient capital andthat subscribes to the philosophy of sustainable philanthropic capital.

Founder and CEO of Abraaj, Arif Naqvi, said: "We are delightedto welcome Khaldoon and his team at Riyada Ventures into the Abraaj group, tospearhead our regional enterprise-development initiative. Abraaj is committedto creating the region's largest dedicated platform to supportentrepreneurship and innovation within the high-growth economies of the MENAregion."

Founder and CEO of Riyada Ventures, Khaldoon Tabaza said:"Abraaj's groundbreaking initiative in the SME and entrepreneurship spacewill be a positive inflexion point in the development of high-impact,high-growth ventures in the MENA region. We are honoured and delighted to be part of the Abraaj success story." 2009 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

2009 Al Bawaba (Albawaba.com)

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