Amanat to buy Middlesex University’s Dubai campus, partly owned by Abraaj

UAE education and healthcare investment firm Amanat Holdings said on Monday that it has agreed to acquire Middlesex University’s campus in Dubai, which is partly owned by embattled private equity company Abraaj.

Amanat entered into a share purchase agreement on an “arm’s length basis” on June 8 to acquire the university’s owner and operator, Middlesex Associates, from Mocha Education Holdings Limited, it said in a statement to the Dubai bourse.

Amanat said that it had been told that Abraaj indirectly owns 6 per cent of Middlesex Associates. The transaction is subject to terms, Amanat said, without elaborating.

Reuters on May 6 reported that Abraaj was in talks to sell its investment in Middlesex University in Dubai.

Abraaj denies any wrongdoing in a dispute with four investors, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and International Finance Corp (IFC), over the use of their money in a $1bn healthcare fund.

Debt repayment problems have forced Abraaj to file for provisional liquidation in the Cayman Islands.