Private equity giant hires Lehman's Dubai officer

Dubai: Private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Company (KKR) said yesterday it has hired a top Dubai-based official of the collapsed US investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Makram Azar, who worked as managing director, Global Head of Sovereign Wealth Funds, and chairman of media investment banking for Europe and the Middle-East, will join KKR as managing director and head of Middle East and North Africa (Mena).

He will develop the distribution of KKR products in the Mena region and source opportunities for private equity and infrastructure transactions in selected situations.

He will also explore global co-investment opportunities with Mena institutions.

"Azar will set up an office for KKR in the region and will begin to recruit professionals to support this new initiative," KKR said in a statement yesterday.

Henry R. Kravis and George R. Roberts, co-founders of KKR, said Azar's "extensive experience in the Middle East and North Africa, coupled with his deep knowledge of investors in the region, will allow us to enhance KKR's presence there".