Funders seek to save Abraaj health fund

Bill Gates and other investors have appointed US consulting firm AlixPartners to oversee the separation of Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund (AGHF), which has invested heavily in Kenyan clinics and hospitals, from troubled Dubai PE Abraaj Holdings.

The move, which the investors said will ensure the long term survival of the fund, is a major relief to 18 Kenyan clinics and 10 hospitals that have received investment from AGHF’s Sh103 billion ($1 billion) kitty.

The move will eventually protect the investments in Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan from the ongoing financial woes bedeviling Abraaj Group after its lenders filed numerous winding up petitions in various world capitals. “The AGHF is now in the process of separating from the Abraaj Group to ensure continuity and build a stable platform for the future,” the investors said in a statement.

AlixPartners Managing Director Simon Appell confirmed their entry saying AGHF’s wish was to continue delivering “accessible, affordable and quality care to low and middle-income people in 10 of the largest cities in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

“We want to see continuity and we are working with the fund’s investors, its senior operational team and the provisional liquidators as part of ongoing discussions with several potential replacement managers for the fund,” he said.

In Kenya, the fund has invested in Nairobi Women’s Hospital, Avenue Hospital, Metropolitan Hospital, and Ladnan Hospital.

Abraaj’s fall from grace began this year when it emerged that some of the 24 investors in its $1 billion healthcare fund hired investigators to find out what happened to some of the money invested in the special purpose vehicle (AGHF).

In June, Abraaj Group moved to court in the Cayman Islands seeking permission to go into self-regulation to avert a liquidation move by Kuwaiti Public Institution for Social Security and Delaware-based private debt specialist Auctus Fund.

Abraaj Group’s investments in Africa amount to Sh320 billion.