Colony has also agreed to oversee, on an interim basis, other group funds that are not being acquired so that the Group and all its stakeholders have a comprehensive global solution in place/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 22 – The owners of coffee chain Java House are set to sell it to US investment management firm Colony Capital.
Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Group said they have reached agreement on the principal terms for the sale and purchase of the Group’s Latin America, Sub Saharan Africa, North Africa and Turkey Funds management business and the Group’s Limited Partnership interests in the underlying Funds, along with staff in the eight offices being transferred under the terms of the deal.
Colony has also agreed to oversee, on an interim basis, other group funds that are not being acquired so that the Group and all its stakeholders have a comprehensive global solution in place.
The transaction is expected to complete by July 1, 2018.
Some of Abraaj key interest in Kenya include 100 percent stake in coffee chain Java House which is valued at more than Sh10.3 billion, 18 clinics and 10 hospitals which include major stakes in; Nairobi Womens Hospital, Avenue Group Hospital (56.2 percent), Metropolitan Hospital and Ladnan Hospital.
The group also has a 10 percent stake in Brookside Dairy as well as 21 percent stake in Seven Sea Technology (SST).
Abraaj’s problems began this year when the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other investors hired a forensic accountant to look into possible misuse of money they had put into a $1 billion Abraaj health-care fund.
The firm recently began a restructuring plan that saw Grand Court of the Cayman Islands appoints representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte as Joint Provisional Liquidators to ensure that the rights of all stakeholders are protected while the Company is restructuring.
“We are delighted to have crafted this comprehensive global solution for Abraaj and its stakeholders and sincerely hope that this can enable the process of rebuilding on all sides and also bring an end to the speculation that has swirled around Abraaj over the last months,” said Tom Barrack, Executive Chairman, Colony Capital.
Abraaj was founded in 2002 by Arif Naqvi and emerged to become a leading private equity investor in growth markets with a regional footprint spanning Latin America to South East Asia.
The Group has investments which include a portfolio of mature businesses covering diverse sectors including financial services, FMCG, industrials, healthcare, education, manufacturing and logistics.
Colony is a leading global investment management firm with significant holdings in the healthcare, industrial and hospitality sectors, in addition to other private equity and debt investments, with an embedded institutional and retail investment management business. It was founded by Thomas J. Barrack, Jr. in 1991.
