Dubai, London: York Capital Management, the hedge fund run by Jamie Dinan, is the latest party to join the race to buy the asset-management platform of embattled Dubai private-equity firm Abraaj Group, according to people familiar with the matter.
The New York-based firm is offering $45 million (Dh165 million) for the platform, including about $20 million in severance payments for staff, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Abraaj is currently under a court-supervised liquidation, and that liquidator would keep managing the assets in the funds. No final agreements have been reached and the deliberations may not lead to a deal, the people said.
A representative for Abraaj declined to comment. An attempt to reach a representative at York Capital in London wasn’t immediately successful, and a message left at the firm’s New York offices before local business hours wasn’t returned.
A unit of Abu Dhabi Financial Group made a $55 million bid for the asset-management platform, people familiar with the matter said Tuesday, challenging a rival offer from Cerberus Capital Management. An earlier proposal from Tom Barrack’s Colony Capital was rejected by the liquidators, despite the firm making an offer for Abraaj’s limited-partnership stakes as well.
At its peak, Abraaj owned stakes in companies in most of the major emerging markets outside of China. The collapse of Abraaj, once one of the developing world’s most influential investors, came months after some of its stakeholders began an investigation into mismanagement of money in its health-care fund. The 16-year-old buyout firm filed for a court-supervised restructuring last month.
York is known for its multi-strategy fund, which was founded in 1991 and invests across asset classes. In July last year, money managers Bill Vrattos and Christophe Aurand were appointed co-chief investment officers and eventual successors to Dinan and Dan Schwartz.
