Private Equity
 
Arif Naqvi
Founder & Group Chief Executive Officer
Abraaj Capital
Arif Naqvi
Founder & Group Chief Executive Officer
Abraaj Capital
Arif Naqvi, 51, is Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Abraaj Capital. The Abraaj Capital group is a leading private equity manager investing in the rapidly growing economies of the Middle East, Africa, Turkey and Asia. Since inception in 2002, the Abraaj Capital group has raised US$ 7 billion and distributed around US$ 3 billion to investors. The group has been associated with some of the region’s most notable transactions and has won numerous awards including ‘Middle East Private Equity Firm of the Year’ from London-based Private Equity International (PEI) six years in a row since 2005.

Mr. Naqvi is a member of the Young Presidents' Organization, where he was the Emirates Chapter Chairman from 2002 to 2003. He is a member of numerous think-tanks and policy groups such as the WEF Arab Business Council and serves on a number of boards such as the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association, IMD Foundation Board, Endeavor Global and the Advisory Board of the Columbia University Middle East Research Center. Mr. Naqvi is the Chair of the Middle East Center’s Advisory Board at the London School of Economics and Political Science and is the Chairman of the British Asian Trust Advisory Committee – Pakistan.  In 2008, Mr. Naqvi founded the AMAN Foundation and is currently the Chairman of its Board of Trustees.
 
In 2007, 2008 and 2011, PEI identified Mr. Naqvi as one of the 50-most influential people in the global private equity industry. In 2006, he was awarded the highest civilian honor in Pakistan, the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, by the Republic’s President.
 

Mr. Naqvi is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science and previously worked with Arthur Andersen & Co., American Express Bank, Saudi Arabia’s Olayan Group and the Cupola Group, which he founded in 1994. Mr. Naqvi is married with two children.

 
Mustafa Abdel-Wadood
Chief Executive Officer
Abraaj Capital
Mustafa Abdel-Wadood
Chief Executive Officer
Abraaj Capital

Mustafa Abdel-Wadood is a member of the Board of Directors and Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee of Abraaj Capital. In his capacity as CEO of Abraaj Capital Ltd., he oversees the company’s investment activities. Mr. Abdel-Wadood has 20 years of experience in the field of investment management, corporate finance and business development throughout the Middle East region and beyond. Prior to Abraaj Capital, Mr. Abdel-Wadood was at the regional investment bank EFG-Hermes with his last position there as CEO in the United Arab Emirates, overseeing the bank’s expansion in the lower Gulf.

Mr. Abdel-Wadood was also Co-Founder and Managing Director of Sigma Capital, managing the company’s investment banking and corporate finance activities. Prior to that, Mr. Abdel-Wadood spent eight years at Egypt’s Orascom Group where he was last Director of Development and Investments, and a Board Member of Orascom Telecom. At Orascom he was responsible for corporate investments and acquisitions. Mr. Abdel-Wadood has served on the boards of several publicly listed and private companies. In 2002, the World Economic Forum selected him as one of the 100 ‘Global Leaders for Tomorrow’ and ‘Young Global Leader in 2007’. He is Co-Founder and member of the Dubai-based ‘Young Arab Leaders’ and a member of the ‘Young Presidents’ Organization’.

Mr. Abdel-Wadood is married with two children, and holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo and an MBA from Georgetown University.

 

Waqar Hassan Siddique
Senior Partner & Chief Operating Officer
Abraaj Capital
Waqar Hassan Siddique
Senior Partner & Chief Operating Officer
Abraaj Capital
Waqar Siddique is Senior Partner and Chief Operating Officer at Abraaj Capital. In this role, Mr. Siddique has overall responsibility for critical operational functions of the firm, including Finance, Risk, Compliance, Governance and Funds Administration. Mr. Siddique serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Abraaj Capital Holdings Limited and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.

In the course of his career, Mr. Siddique has specialized in strategic business development, operations and risk management within leading private sector firms in the Middle East and South Asia. At Abraaj Capital, Mr. Siddique also heads a team of senior professionals focused on managing and creating value in Abraaj’s partner companies spread across 12 countries in the MENASA region. He represents Abraaj on the boards of several companies, including as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), Jordan Aircraft Maintenance Limited (JorAMCo), Stanford Marine Group (SMG) and Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited (BPPL).
 
In addition, Mr. Siddique serves as a member of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi, the oldest business school outside North America. He is also a member of IMD Executive Education Advisory Council. Mr. Siddique also serves as a trustee of the AMAN Foundation, a private, not-for-profit foundation, established by our Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, Arif Naqvi.

Before joining Abraaj, Mr. Siddique was the Chief Executive Officer of the Cupola Group. In 1999, he was one of a team of senior directors who concluded a landmark private equity deal through Cupola’s acquisition of Inchcape Plc’s interests in the Middle East.

Prior to joining Cupola, Mr. Siddique held a senior executive position at Mawarid Holding Company, a leading business conglomerate based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Mr. Siddique spent a number of years with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Pakistan as a Senior Consultant. He started his career in 1982 after earning his MBA degree with a specialization in Finance.

Mr. Siddique is married with two children

 
Ahmed Badreldin
Senior Partner
Abraaj Capital
Ahmed Badreldin
Senior Partner
Abraaj Capital
Ahmed Badreldin is a Senior Partner at Abraaj Capital where he leads one of the group’s private equity investment teams and also oversees the firm’s operations in Egypt and North Africa. He is responsible for a number of Abraaj portfolio companies including AlBorg (medical laboratories), GEMS (K-12 education), Stanford Marine Group (offshore oil services) and Tadawi (pharmacy retail and wholesale). Mr. Badreldin has more than 15 years experience in investment banking, finance and consulting.
 
Before joining Abraaj, he was a Senior Director in Leveraged Finance at Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Plc in London, where he spent over 8 years. At Barclays, he completed several financing and equity co-investment transactions with leading global private equity firms including the Carlyle Group, KKR and Bain Capital. During his career he has developed strong credit-analysis, investment and structuring skills in debt and equity, and gained broad, comprehensive experience in several industries such as telecommunications, retail and energy. Key transactions he completed include the leveraged buyouts of Northgate IS, Alliance Boots and Edcon, all of which had debt financing and equity co-investment components.
 
Mr. Badreldin began his career with Baker Hughes, providing consulting and engineering services to the oil sector in the MENASA region.

He holds a BSc in Industrial Management and Business Administration from the American University in Cairo and an MBA from the Cranfield School of Management in the UK.
Wahid Hamid
Senior Partner
Abraaj Capital
Wahid Hamid
Senior Partner
Abraaj Capital
Wahid Hamid is a Senior Partner at Abraaj Capital and is responsible for building out the firm’s operational excellence and business acceleration capabilities to drive value creation in portfolio companies.
 
Mr. Hamid  brings extensive experience to Abraaj Capital related to strategy, M&A, global business development and operational improvement. Most recently, he was an independent advisor to PE firms and their portfolio companies. Mr. Hamid also acted as a Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, helping to expand their business with leading multinational clients.

Prior to this role, Mr. Hamid was Senior Vice President Corporate Strategy and Development at PepsiCo, Inc., reporting to the CEO. He was on the Firm's Executive Management Committee and a member of the Board of Pepsi Americas (NYSE:PAS), one of their largest anchor bottlers. While at PepsiCo, he was also CFO of PepsiCo Americas Foods, a  US$ 20 billion sector of the company. In these roles he was responsible for developing and implementing innovative corporate and business unit strategies, new ventures and alliances and for all M&A activities in conjunction with the divisions and sectors.

Mr. Hamid joined PepsiCo from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he spent 15 years in a wide variety of roles and led engagements advising Fortune 100 Companies on developing and implementing growth and innovation strategies as well as on large-scale reengineering and transformation programs and ultimately served as Senior Partner and Managing Director in their New York office. He led BCG's consumer goods and retail practice across Asia Pacific for a number of years and led large-scale engagements in Japan, China, South Korea, and India.

Mr. Hamid holds dual undergraduate degrees from the California Institute of Technology (with honors) and Occidental College (cum laude) and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.   

Mounir Husseini
Senior Partner
Abraaj Capital
Mounir Husseini
Senior Partner
Abraaj Capital
Mounir Husseini is Senior Partner and Head of the Corporate Business Development Group at Abraaj Capital. In this role, Mr. Husseini has high level and overall responsibility for Abraaj’s global investor relationships, in addition to focusing on deal origination, corporate fund raising and business development for the group. Mr. Husseini is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.

Mr. Husseini most recently served at Deutsche Bank AG as Managing Director and Chief Country Officer for the UAE and Qatar and Senior Executive Officer, Deutsche Bank AG (DIFC) and General Manager of Deutsche Bank, Qatar Branch. In this role, Mr. Husseini led the development and execution of Deutsche Bank’s Sovereign Wealth Funds strategy, resulting in significant debt capital market transactions and landmark equity acquisitions by Government controlled entities.

Prior to joining Deutsche Bank AG, Mr. Husseini held leadership positions at Daimler AG, the latest of which was as Managing Director of Daimler AG’s Structured Finance arm in Berlin, and served on its Executive Committee. During an eleven year tenure with Daimler AG, Mr. Husseini established Regional Centers for the Structured Finance division and enabled the firm’s market entry into Russia and the CIS, introducing Islamic structures backed by UAE-based banks in that region for the first time.

Mr. Husseini holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Fairfield University in Connecticut, USA and completed his executive education at IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland.
 
Mr. Husseini is a Founding Member of the Bader Young Entrepreneurship Program, a not-for-profit organization aimed at developing high impact entrepreneurs in Lebanon.
 
Omar Lodhi
Senior Partner, Head of Asia
Abraaj Capital
Omar Lodhi
Senior Partner, Head of Asia
Abraaj Capital
Omar Lodhi joined Abraaj in 2005 and has 18 years of private equity and investment banking experience in the Middle East, Asia and Europe. At Abraaj, Mr. Lodhi has been involved in many aspects of the business. Until early 2009, he headed one of three investment-management teams responsible for deal sourcing, execution and post-acquisition management of partner companies. His main area of focus was Turkey and the Gulf, targeting a range of sectors including oil and gas, education, food and agriculture, and industrials. During this time, he was responsible for undertaking and managing several investments for Abraaj Funds, including Stanford Marine Group (SMG) and Global Education Management Systems (GEMS), the largest K-12 education business operating in the MENASA region.

Mr. Lodhi also played a lead role in the development and launch of new funds including the Infrastructure and Growth Capital Fund, and Abraaj Buyout Fund IV and between 2009-2010 had responsibility for Abraaj’s Investor Coverage and placement business. In January 2011, Mr. Lodhi assumed his current role as CEO of Abraaj Capital Asia (Pte) Ltd., where being Singapore based, he is responsible for the firm’s investment activities across South East Asia and India as well as Abraaj’s investor coverage activities across Asia-Pacific. Mr. Lodhi is a member of Abraaj’s Executive Management and Investment Committees.

Before joining Abraaj, Mr. Lodhi was Head of Islamic Finance for Citigroup in the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on primary capital-market fund raising, and the structuring and distribution of alternative investments. Prior to that he spent several years with UBS in London and Hong Kong, focusing on advisory and principal opportunities in various infrastructure sectors in Europe and Asia, including telecoms, power, and downstream oil and gas.

Mr. Lodhi is a graduate of the London School of Economics with an Honors degree in International Trade and Development, and holds a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.
 
Hossam Radwan
Senior Partner, Abraaj Capital, Chief Executive Officer, Abraaj Partners Holdings, KSA
Hossam Radwan
Senior Partner, Abraaj Capital, Chief Executive Officer, Abraaj Partners Holdings, KSA
Hossam Yousef Radwan is a Senior Partner at Abraaj Capital and the Chief Executive Officer of Abraaj Partners Holdings in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Based in Riyadh, Mr. Radwan leads a team responsible for making investments across a variety of asset classes, including private equity, small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs), real estate, and public equities. He is also a member of the Abraaj Group Executive Committee.
 
Mr. Radwan most recently served as CEO of EFG-Hermes in Saudi Arabia and as a member of the Executive Committee of EFG-Hermes Holdings, the largest investment bank in the Middle East.

Previously, he served at Goldman Sachs for twelve years between 1997 to 2009, in both London and New York, where he held a range of positions, including Head of Middle East & North Africa Sales at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He began his career with JP Morgan in New York and then moved to London where he spent almost four years between 1993 to 1997 in the Fixed Income and Credit Research Division.

Mr. Radwan received a Bachelors of Science degree in Finance from Georgetown University in 1993.  

  

Matteo Stefanel
Senior Partner
Abraaj Capital
Matteo Stefanel
Senior Partner
Abraaj Capital
Matteo Stefanel joined Abraaj in 2008, and has more than 15 years of private equity and investment banking experience developed through approximately 70 M&A transactions in Europe, the US and the Middle East.  Based in Dubai, Mr. Stefanel is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and leads one of the Investment Management Teams at Abraaj, responsible for deal sourcing, execution and post-acquisition management of partner companies. His main area of focus is the Gulf, Turkey and Pakistan, targeting a range of sectors including financial institutions, logistics, industrials and media. Before joining Abraaj, Mr. Stefanel was with Marfin Investment Group in Greece where he was Chairman of the Recommending Investment Committee, heading all transaction execution. He was also a member of the banking group’s Executive Committee and Chief Executive Officer of its investment bank, IBG.
 
Before that, Mr. Stefanel was a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank, responsible for the Financial Institutions Group in Italy, South East Europe and the Middle East. He focused on M&A, privatisations and corporate-restructuring transactions, as well as equity, debt and derivative deals in the Financial Services industry.  Previously, he served as an investment banking M&A specialist at Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Wasserstein Perella, where he worked across a wide range of sectors such as chemicals, industrials, defence and TMT.
 
Mr. Stefanel is a graduate of Oxford University with an Honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
 
Selcuk Yorgancioglu
Senior Partner, Country Head Turkey
Abraaj Capital
Selcuk Yorgancioglu
Senior Partner, Country Head Turkey
Abraaj Capital
Selcuk Yorgancioglu is a Senior Partner and Country Head of the Turkey office. Since joining Abraaj in 2008, Mr. Yorgancioglu has worked on the acquisition and subsequent partnership with Turkish premium hospital operator Acibadem Healthcare, as well as units Acibadem Insurance, A+ Catering and Acibadem Project Management. He also helped acquire Turkish luxury yacht-maker Numarine. Mr. Yorgancioglu, who manages a team of nine in Istanbul, started his career at Interbank in Turkey.
 
Between 1992 and 1998, he worked for ABN AMRO in Amsterdam and London as part of the Emerging Markets Investment Banking Group. There, Mr. Yorgancioglu focused on emerging Europe, working on transactions in countries such as Turkey, Russia and Poland. Between 1998 and 2000, he served as an Executive Vice President and Head of Investment Banking at Finansbank Group in Turkey, and on the board of the group’s Asset Management business.
 
For seven years from 2000, Mr. Yorgancioglu was at Deutsche Bank in London as a part of senior management for the Emerging Markets Investment Banking team. In his final year at Deutsche, Mr. Yorgancioglu was the bank’s CEO in Turkey, managing 250 people, and overseeing the banking, brokerage, asset management and mortgage businesses.
 
Mr. Yorgancioglu is a graduate of Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, and has an MBA in Finance from the University of New Haven in the United States. 
Ayman Arekat
Partner
Abraaj Capital
Ayman Arekat
Partner
Abraaj Capital
Ayman Arekat has been working in banking, finance and investments for more than 28 years. He has accumulated a wealth of experiences at firms such as Chase Manhattan, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Investcorp and others. Though he has gained various experiences in different business functions, his main expertise is on the relationship management and investment placement side.
 
Mr. Arekat holds a Bachelors of Business Administration / Finance from the University of Houston and has attended many executive education programs including a General Management program at London Business School.
Purshotam Ramchandani
Partner
Abraaj Capital
Purshotam Ramchandani
Partner
Abraaj Capital
Purshotam Ramchandani has more than a decade of experience in private equity and investment banking. During the past seven years at Abraaj Capital, he has been involved in executing several investments, and worked on launching new funds including the Infrastructure & Growth Capital Fund and ASAS (Abraaj’s income-generating sale-and-leaseback fund). In 2009, Mr. Ramchandani helped set up Abraaj’s Saudi office. Currently he is focused on leading Abraaj’s business development and other strategic initiatives. 

Before Abraaj, Mr. Ramchandani was an Investment Banking Associate at Lehman Brothers in New York where he focused on M&A, and financing transactions in the communications and media sector. He was also actively involved in the training and recruitment programmes for analysts and associates.

Mr. Ramchandani holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin in the US. He has received the Harold Kubly Award for outstanding academic breadth and achievement, the Erwin Gaumnitz scholarship for academic excellence, and the University Bookstore Grant for the best undergraduate research paper from the School of Business and the School of Economics. Mr. Ramchandani is married with two children.

Mohamed Semary
Partner
Mohamed Semary
Partner
Mohamed Semary is a Partner at Abraaj Capital within the Corporate Business Development Group where he is predominantly involved in investor coverage activities.  Mr. Semary leads the firm’s efforts in maintaining relationships with institutional investors and Limited Partners globally.

Prior to joining Abraaj Capital in 2006, Mr. Semary spent five years at EFG-Hermes where his most recent position was as Head of Corporate Business Development. In this role, Mr. Semary was responsible for regional corporate development and corporate finance coverage across the Middle East and North Africa.

Mr. Semary is fluent in French and Arabic

Abdullah Q. Shahin
Partner
Abraaj Capital
Abdullah Q. Shahin
Partner
Abraaj Capital
Abdullah Shahin has over 11 years of experience in investment banking and private equity in the Middle East region. At Abraaj, he is involved in deal sourcing, execution, and post-acquisition management of partner companies in the GCC and Levant area and was a key member of the team that executed some of the landmark private equity deals in the region including the acquisition of Egyptian Fertilizers Company (EFC).

Mr. Shahin currently serves on the Board of Directors of a number of portfolio companies of Abraaj including Joramco, Art Marine, and MSF. Prior to joining Abraaj in 2002, Mr. Shahin worked at Communications Development Corporation (CDC), the Middle Eastern Affiliation of CEA (a US based investment bank), where his main duties included performing due diligence and financial analysis on investment opportunities and deals in the region for CDC and its major clients, which included the largest technology fund in the MENA region. Between 1998 and 2000, he worked at Atlas Investment Group, currently the investment banking arm of the Arab Bank, where he was involved in a number of regional private placements and M&A transactions.

Mr. Shahin holds a Bachelors of Commerce from Concordia University, Canada.

Omar Syed
Partner
Abraaj Capital
Omar Syed
Partner
Abraaj Capital
Mr. Omar Syed joined Abraaj in 2007. Prior to joining Abraaj, he spent 6 years with American Capital, where he focused on buyouts and financial restructurings across various industries and sectors. Previously, he was with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, working in their Assurance & Business Advisory and Transaction Services practices.
 
Mr. Syed received a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from McGill University and a Masters in Accounting from Concordia University. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a registered member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the CFA Institute.
Nadeem Lodhi
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Nadeem Lodhi
Principal
Abraaj Capital

Nadeem Lodhi is a Principal at Abraaj Capital and Head of the group’s business in Sub Saharan Africa. 

Mr. Lodhi has 20 years experience in the financial sector in Africa, Middle East, Asia and Europe. Prior to joining Abraaj, Mr. Lodhi was a Managing Director at DIB Capital heading the Debt Capital Market and Syndications business where he closed several landmark Sukuk transactions.

In 2008, DIB was globally ranked as the number one Sukuk bookrunner by Bloomberg. Prior to assuming the Managing Director position at DIB Capital, Mr. Lodhi was the Chief Executive of DIB’s Africa business. Among other transactions overseen during this period, Mr. Lodhi was responsible for the post-privatization restructuring of Bank of Khartoum and its subsequent merger with Emirates Sudan Bank.

Prior to joining DIB, Mr. Lodhi was with Citigroup in various senior management positions primarily in Africa, including as Country Officer Uganda, and Head of the Corporate Finance business for East Africa and 27 non-presence countries across the continent. Mr. Lodhi began his career with ANZ Grindlays Bank plc in Asia and the United Kingdom. 

Mr. Lodhi holds a Bachelors degree in Economics and Finance from Muhlenberg College, USA.

Aziz Moolji
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Aziz Moolji
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Aziz Moolji has more than nine years experience in investment banking, primarily in New York. At Abraaj he is responsible for deal origination, structuring and execution, and portfolio management. Before joining Abraaj he was a Vice President with Merrill Lynch & Co. in the Financial Sponsors Group in New York with joint coverage and execution responsibility for leading private equity firms and hedge funds, including KKR, Harbinger, New Mountain Capital and Oaktree Capital.
 
Previously he was a senior associate at Goldman Sachs & Co. in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group in New York where his responsibilities included origination and execution of corporate M&A transactions. Over the course of his career, Mr. Moolji has been involved in the execution of more than 25 transactions, including sellside M&A, buyside M&A, equity offerings, and bank and bond financings.
 
Mr. Moolji holds a Masters in Business Administration from The Wharton School and dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering and Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Huda Al-Lawati
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Huda Al-Lawati
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Huda Al Lawati has over 9 years of experience in private equity and finance. At Abraaj she is a member of the investment team responsible for structuring, execution and post-acquisition management and monitoring of transactions across the private equity family of funds. She has completed several transactions at Abraaj, developing strong experience in a number of industries including oil & gas, shipping and healthcare. She has worked on Abraaj’s acquisition of the leading healthcare group in Turkey, Acibadem and has been responsible for Stanford Marine Group (OSV, oil services), an Abraaj portfolio company, since 2008 where she works closely with the senior management team on initiation, evaluation and execution of strategic initiatives including financing, business development and M&A related activities.
 
Ms. Al Lawati started her career in 2001 with Schlumberger in Muscat, Oman where she managed the fiscal accounts and tax audits of all Schlumberger subsidiaries and branches in Oman. She was also responsible for performance reporting by product line with a focus on wireline and well stimulation segments. She joined ABQ Zawya in 2003 where she developed and implemented the business plan and strategy for a regionally focused online financial portal. She was responsible for liaising with equity research houses and exchanges across the region and building industry specific financial reporting and analysis templates.
 
Ms. Al Lawati holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics (Honours), from Brown University.
Mohammed A. Aldakhil
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Saudi Arabia
Mohammed A. Aldakhil
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Mohammed Aldakhil has more than a decade of experience in wealth management and corporate finance, primarily in Geneva and New York. At Abraaj Capital he is responsible for investor relations and corporate business development covering the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  Prior to joining Abraaj Capital, Mr. Aldakhil was Chief Executive Officer at Global Investment and Management S.A., where he led a team of wealth management professionals.
 
Mr. Aldakhil started his career with Merrill Lynch in 1998 and held senior management positions within the Bank during his tenure. His most recent position was Senior Vice President in the Private Investment Bank Group (Geneva) for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.  

Mr. Aldakhil holds a Masters in Business Administration from The American Graduate School of International Management at Thunderbird University and a BA in Corporate Finance from American Colleges in Los Angeles, California.

Zulfiqar Ali
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Zulfiqar Ali
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Zulfiqar Ali joined Abraaj in June 2007 and during his time at Abraaj, has been involved in originating and evaluating transactions in the Oil & Gas and Power sectors in Turkey, the UAE and Pakistan. He has beeninvolved in two landmark transactions at Abraaj. He co-led Abraaj's acquisition of a 40% stake in Byco Industries Inc., the holding company for the Bosicor Group in Pakistan. Mr. Ali was instrumental in structuring,negotiating and completing the transaction. He also played a key role in completing Abraaj's acquisition of a controlling stake in the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC). Mr. Ali led a significant portion of the due diligence and negotiations with the Government of Pakistan, including the negotiation of a revised Implementation Agreement for the company. He has also taken the lead on negotiations with lending banks and multilaterals such as the IFC and Asian Development Bank, and helped to negotiate or renegotiate key EPC contracts.
 
Prior to joining Abraaj, Mr. Zulfiqar Ali spent 12 years with Citigroup in London as Director/Senior Credit Officer in Project Finance and Risk Management for Structured Finance Products. During his time at Citibank, he worked on a broad range of transactions. He led the Structured Products Risk teams that evaluated and executed the financings for the Petro-Rabigh Refinery Project in Saudi Arabia, the Qatargas 2 and 3 LNG projects in Qatar, the Wataniya Telecom financing in Algeria, and the Sohar Aluminium transaction in Oman. He was senior member of the team that advised the sponsors of Nigeria LNG on their first US $1 billion debt financing and the parallel US $450 million financing for Bonny Gas Transport that achieved what was then the longest tenor of 13 years for clean Nigeria risk. He led the financing of Barrick's Bulyanhulu Gold Project in Tanzania which again achieved a record tenor of 9 years. Mr. Ali was a senior member of the Citibank/Citigroup teams that advised the sponsors of the Damietta LNG Project in Egypt, the Uch Power and the Asia Petroleum Pipeline projects in Pakistan. He was also involved in a variety of other Oil and Gas, petrochemicals, power, water and other infrastructure transactions in India, Bangladesh, Egypt, Spain and the UK.
 
Between his time at Citigroup and Abraaj, Mr. Ali was Vice President with SEDCO’s Direct Investment Group based in Dubai, where he completed and originated a number of transactions in IT, healthcare and manufacturing.
 
Mr. Ali holds a BA (Honors) from Vassar College and a MSc. in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Andrew Chvatal
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Andrew Chvatal
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Andrew Chvatal is responsible for overseeing the evaluation, structuring, negotiation and execution of buyout transactions and other investment opportunities. Prior to joining Abraaj, Mr. Chvatal was a senior associate in the New York office of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, a leading international law firm, where he was a member of the mergers and acquisitions group. While at Simpson Thacher, Mr. Chvatal specialized in the representation of private equity firms in leveraged acquisitions of public and private companies across a variety of industries and geographic regions. Mr. Chvatal began his career with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP in New York, where he was involved in a broad range of M&A and corporate finance transactions.
 
Mr. Chvatal holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from Boston University and a J.D. from Georgetown University, where he was Managing Editor of the journal Law and Policy in International Business.
Simona Di Vietri
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Simona Di Vietri
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Simona Di Vietri has ten years experience in private equity, mezzanine financing and investment banking. Before joining Abraaj, she was in London working as member of the investment team of MezzVest, an independent fund investing mainly in mezzanine tranches of LBO transactions. Before that, Ms. Di Vietri spent five years at Lehman Brothers, where she was focusing on M&A transactions in the communications and media sector, and then in Structured Finance. At Abraaj, her primary focus is to identify, structure and execute investment opportunities. She is also actively involved in management of these investments.
 
Ms. Di Vietri holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from the LUISS Guido Carlo University in Rome.
Ragheb El Rami
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Ragheb El Rami
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Ragheb El Rami, who has more than nine years of corporate and structured finance experience, joined Abraaj Capital in 2006 where he is primarily responsible for identifying, structuring, and executing investment opportunities in the MENASA region. He is currently responsible for monitoring and monetizing investments for the Abraaj office in Saudi Arabia. Before joining Abraaj, Mr. El Rami was a project development manager for DaimlerChrysler financial services in its structured finance group. Before that, he was at Deloitte in its corporate finance group in Dubai, where he performed valuations, financial and operational due diligence assignments and feasibility studies across a number of industries including retail, hospitality, insurance, financial services and contracting.
 
Mr. El Rami holds a Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, a Master of Business Administration from London Business School and is also a CFA charter holder. He is also a member of the Dubai-based Young Arab Leaders.
 
Raza Hasnani
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Raza Hasnani
Principal
Abraaj Capital

Raza Hasnani joined Abraaj in 2006 and has been involved in all aspects of the investment process from sourcing and execution to post-acquisition value-creation. He has 15 years of private equity and corporate finance experience in the US, Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Previously, he was with Exxon Mobil Corporation in Dallas and Houston where he led financing activities for upstream and downstream projects. Mr. Hasnani has also worked in the investment banking division of Credit Suisse First Boston in Los Angeles. He started his career in 1994 at Deloitte in Philadelphia.

Mr. Hasnani holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania. He also holds CPA and CA qualifications.

 
Amr Helal
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Amr Helal
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Amr Helal is responsible for sourcing, structuring and negotiating transactions in Egypt and North Africa, for Abraaj and its partner companies, as well as working to add value at Egypt’s Al Borg Laboratories, the biggest medical-testing laboratory company in the Middle East. Before joining Abraaj, Mr. Helal was a senior member of the EFG-Hermes investment banking team, where he helped originate, lead and execute several high-profile transactions in the Middle East and North Africa. These included the initial public offering of Talaat Mustafa Group, Etisalat’s purchase of Saudi Arabia’s second mobile-phone license and the sale of Al-Ahram Beverages to Heineken International.
 
With around ten years of investment banking experience, Mr. Helal has specialized in equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and restructuring. He has advised on more than US$ 11 billion of transactions and is a graduate of the American University in Cairo, with a BA in Economics.
Aman Lakhaney
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Aman Lakhaney
Principal
Abraaj Capital
Aman Lakhaney joined Abraaj in 2004 and has over 9 years of consulting and private equity experience across the Middle East, North African, and South Asian regions. At Abraaj he is a member of the investment management team, responsible for deal origination, structuring and execution, and the post acquisition management of partner companies. His primary area of focus was the GCC, Turkey, and South Asia targeting a range of sectors including financial services, retail, healthcare, food & agriculture, and manufacturing. At Abraaj he has been involved in the execution of a number of landmark regional private equity transactions including the acquisition of EFG-Hermes as well as on the post acquisition management of Acibadem Healthcare, Spinneys, and MS Forgings.
 
Mr. Lakhaney has also played a leading role in Abraaj's international expansion with the opening of Abraaj's office in Karachi, Pakistan in 2007 and more recently Abraaj's expansion into Southeast Asia. He is currently a senior member of the investment team of Abraaj Capital Asia (Pte) Limited based in Singapore with a focus on Southeast Asian equity investments.
 
Previously, he was a financial analyst at Start Consult, a boutique GCC focused consulting firm based in Dubai where he was involved in several in a number of advisory assignments across the telecoms, manufacturing, and retail industries.
 
Mr. Lakhaney is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (New York, USA), with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management and Finance.