Abraaj Buys 50% Stake In The Entertainer

Abraaj Capital announced that it is planning to acquire a 50 per cent stake in The Entertainer, a boutique consumer services company offering two-for-one discount vouchers. The acquisition is being carried out through Abraaj’s $650 million small and mid-cap investment platform, Riyada Enterprise Development (RED), it said in a statement.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

The Entertainer, established in Dubai in 2001, publishes annual books for each GCC country containing vouchers for restaurants, hotel stays and leisure activities.

“RED’s investment will enable The Entertainer to strengthen its operations in existing markets, expand its footprint into new geographies and execute a strategy to enable customers to buy and use the vouchers over digital mediums and mobile networks,” said the statement.

“We currently work with over 3,000 merchants and expect this number to be doubled in two years when we launch into Asia and other markets,” Donna Benton, CEO of The Entertainer said in the statement.

RED, which targets individual investments of between $500,000 and $15 million, functions as the MENA arm of private equity firm Aureos Capital. Aureos was acquired by Abraaj for $1.3 billion in February 2012.

The Entertainer is the 14th investment of the RED platform, according to the statement.