Abraaj Capital supports Hawkamah in promoting Corporate Governance in MENASA region

Abraaj's sponsorship will be used to promote corporate governance across the MENASA region.

Hawkamah has already signed sponsorship agreements with major international businesses, including PricewaterhouseCoopers and MasterCard. Through their sponsorship, Abraaj Capital aims to endorse and encourage corporate governance reform in the industry. Hawkamah has already signed sponsorship agreements with major international businesses, including PricewaterhouseCoopers and MasterCard. With the rapid growth of the financial services sector across the Middle East and in particular the recent rise of private equity firms, Abraaj Capital recognizes that it has a role to play to proactively adopt and promote corporate governance reforms in the region.

Dr. Nasser Saidi, Executive Director of Hawkamah said: "We are seeing increasing interest from private equity firms and funds in the development and implementation of good corporate governance in the Middle East. Hawkamah's role in leading the way across the region with strategic initiatives to raise awareness of and promote the fundamentals of sound corporate governance is widely recognized. Abraaj's support of Hawkamah underlines the firm's progressive attitude to corporate governance - which has become a crucial aspect of the firm's investment decision-making process. We look forward to engaging investors and private equity companies to strengthen corporate governance, transparency and disclosure in the nascent mergers and acquisitions business in our region."

Frederic Sicre, Executive Director of Abraaj Capital, commented: "We are keen to demonstrate our commitment to corporate governance in the private equity industry by being actively engaged in Hawkamah's task forces, regional activities and events. Sound corporate governance is crucial to the development of the industry within the region and we are delighted to be part of the force advocating this. Our decision to support Hawkamah is a natural progression for us having been the first pure private equity firm to be registered by the DFSA to operate out of the DIFC. We actively work with our portfolio companies in the area of corporate governance as part of our active portfolio management process.."

The Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance is an international association of corporate governance practitioners, regulators and institutions whose primary mandate is to develop corporate governance best practices in the Middle East region. By promoting the core values of transparency, accountability, fairness, disclosure and responsibility, Hawkamah assists countries and companies in the region to develop and implement sound and globally integrated corporate governance frameworks.

Abraaj Capital is a leading private equity firm with seven funds and over $4bn of assets under management. The company focuses on investments in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region.