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Abraaj Credit Fund to Be Taken Over by Kuwait's NBK Capital

Abraaj Credit Fund to Be Taken Over by Kuwait's NBK Capital

(Bloomberg) -- Liquidators of the collapsed private equity fund Abraaj Group are close to completing the transfer of its credit fund to another investment manager as they seek to wind down the company, according to people familiar with the matter.

NBK Capital Partners, the private equity arm of Kuwait’s biggest bank, will make a nominal payment and could take over management of the Abraaj Global Credit Fund as soon as January, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. No Abraaj staff will be transferred as part of the deal, one of the people said.

Abraaj raised about $260 million for the fund and had made three investments before it collapsed after allegations of misusing investor money, the people said. NBK Capital Partners plans to use the deal as a way to build relationships with new investors ahead of raising a new fund, one of the people said.

Abraaj was one of the most high-profile private equity companies in the Middle East until its dramatic collapse earlier this year. The firm is now undergoing a court-supervised restructuring after it was found to have borrowed money from some of its own funds to meet operating expenses without investors’ consent, people with knowledge of the matter have said.

NBK Capital Partners declined to comment, while the liquidators of Abraaj didn’t respond to requests for comment.

To contact the reporters on this story: Matthew Martin in Dubai at mmartin128@bloomberg.net;Dinesh Nair in London at dnair5@bloomberg.net;Arif Sharif in Dubai at asharif2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stefania Bianchi at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, Keith Campbell

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