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The Anatomy of Private Equity Investments in the MENA Region

Private equity (Private Equity) investors worldwide have been rattled by the consequences of the global financial crisis. This has certainly been true of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where a Private Equity market of limited maturity has taken a significant hit in fundraising and seen its peculiar investment landscape change in different […]

Investing in MENA : There is No Place Like Home

Growthgate Partners (GP)–acting on behalf of Growthgate Capital Corp. (Growthgate)- has a long-standing commitment to developing the private equity (Private Equity) asset class in the MENA region with an emphasis on the GCC markets. We follow a dedicated ‘buy & build’ strategy that invests in companies of the middle market segment that are principally located […]

Growthgate-backed IrisGuard Closes its Latest Funding Round

IrisGuard, the UK-based pioneer in Iris Recognition Technology (IRT) payment solutions, today announced an investment from Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. IrisGuard was founded in 2001 by its current CEO Imad Malhas and Rudain and Karim Kawar. Growthgate invested back in 2010, through an injection of growth equity […]

Growthgate-led Consortium Sells Majority Stake Held in JetSet Equity Partners Realizing Hefty Returns

DUBAI, UAE, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ Growthgate, the middle-market specialist PE firm announced the sale by its majority-owned vehicle namely, JetSet Equity Partners, of 51% of the capital stock of Gama Group MENA FZC, the manager and operator of private jets. The company is a UAE-licensed entity that owns and operates region-wide private aircraft, and provides jet […]

Mergermarket Interview with Managing Partner & Founder of Growthgate Capital

Growthgate Capital-­backed International Food Services and Roots Group Arabia, both based in Saudi Arabia, are looking to acquire a catering services company and an industrial  manufacturing services company, respectively, managing partner and founder of Growthgate, Karim Souaid said. The Bahrain­-based investment firm is also considering exiting two investments, he said. Both targets are based in the MENA region. […]

Bloomberg Businessweek Interview – The Path to Growth

Karim Souaid, Managing Partner at Growthgate Capital, on the prospects for the company’s investments over the next few years and the challenges of being a direct equity investor in the Middle East How is the ongoing slump affecting the market for acquisitions in the PE industry? At times of economic slow down and of financial […]

Corporate governance cannot just be an add-on

Private equity (PE) firms operating in the Mena region have a unique position among all other types of regional investors. Unlike Sovereign Wealth Funds, family offices, or merchant groups, these firms get deeper into the fabric of their investee companies. Participating in privately held businesses, they have the opportunity to observe up close and personal […]

Growthgate Capital Fully Merits The 2015 Best MENA Mid-Market Private Equity House GCC

Growthgate Capital Corporation was awarded by CFI.co (Capital Finance International) as the Best MENA Mid-Market Private Equity House this year. The firm’s buy-and-build strategy aims to empower mid-market companies to smash the glass ceiling and attain their true potential as regional leaders. Growthgate Capital not only provides selected companies with the funds necessary for their breakout, […]

Growthgate Capital Successfully Sells Majority Stake in Able Logistics (UAE) to Kerry Logistics Network (HK)
Growthgate Capital, the Gulf-based investment firm announced today that it has exited from its investment in Able Logistics Group (Able) by selling its 70 percent equity stake therein to Kerry Freight Services (South Asia) Pte. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Kerry Logistics Network, for $32 million (subject to certain adjustments). Taking into account this [...]
Growthgate Backed Gama Aviation Completes Reverse Merger & Lists on AIM London Stock Exchange
Growthgate-backed Gama Aviation completes reverse merger and lists on AIM London Stock Exchange The merger creates a circa £130M/$200M capitalized global leader Manama – Bahrain. December 9, 2014. Growthgate Capital, the Gulf-based investment firm announced today that its portfolio company Gama Aviation has proposed a £82 million ($127 million) reverse takeover with Hangar 8 Plc, [...]
Iris Scanning Technology Streamlines Refugee Registration Process
Scores of Syrians waiting to register at the newly opened UN Refugee Agency registration centre in Khalda last Thursday experienced their first iris-scanning. The Iris Recognition Technology was recently implemented to streamline the refugee registration process and to tackle the backlog of 60,000 Syrians awaiting registrations at the Anmar Hmoud Centre for Refugee Registration and [...]
Private Equity Revives as Regional Markets Reopen
As Dubai freight-forwarding firm Able Logistics Group began preparing early this year to go public, it conducted a leveraged recapitalisation, taking on fresh bank debt so it could pay a cash dividend to shareholders. By the standards of developed Western markets, the transaction was routine. But for the Middle East it was an unusually creative [...]
Growthgate-Backed Able Logistics Group completes Leveraged Recapitalization
Growthgate Capital, the GCC specialist investment firm, today announced that its portfolio company Able Logistics Group ("Able") has completed a leveraged recapitalization. Growthgate Capital had acquired a strategic stake in Able, a Dubai-based logistics and transport service provider, in Q4 of 2007, and over time amassed a controlling stake therein. With this latest recapitalization, and [...]
`أيرس جارد` انفراد عالمي لتقنيات بصمة العين
قبل أحداث سبتمبر 2001كانت بدايات شركة ايرس جارد في المملكة العربية السعودية، كان الهدف إيجاد حل لمشكلة الحجاج المعروفة بـ "حج ولم يعد" وتتمثل هذه المشكلة بذهاب الحاج إلى الأراضي المقدسة ومن ثم البقاء هناك بشكل غير قانوني، حيث يعمد المخالفون إلى التخلص من كافة أوراقهم الرسمية بعد أداء فريضة الحج والتسلل بعد ذلك إلى [...]
Iris-Scanning Technology Streamlines Refugee Registration Process
Scores of Syrians waiting to register at the newly opened UN Refugee Agency registration centre in Khalda last Thursday experienced their first iris-scanning. The Iris Recognition Technology was recently implemented to streamline the refugee registration process and to tackle the backlog of 60,000 Syrians awaiting registrations at the Anmar Hmoud Centre for Refugee Registration and [...]
The Must Markets of The MENA Region
Ever since the acronym ‘BRICs’ was coined to depict a group of emerging markets with highest signs of growth, alternative asset class managers have devised strategies to capture the anticipated opportunities. In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, we are proposing to coin ‘MUST’ as the MENA region’s most attractive investment destinations. A select number [...]
Entrepreneurs in the Arab World are Leaping into Action
Seeqnce is part of another Arab spring. Incubators are trying to do for Cairo (Flat6Labs) and Jordan (Oasis500) what Seeqnce is doing for Beirut. Private-equity firms such as Abraaj Capital and Citadel Capital are investing in high-growth companies. ArabNet helps techies to network. New ventures are popping up everywhere. Cinemoz, in Beirut, allows access to [...]
Growthgate First Annual PE RoundTable
On June 30, 2011 Keystone Equity Partners, the General Manager of Growthgate Capital Corporation has organized the “First Annual Private Equity Roundtable”, at Jumeirah Emirates Towers – Dubai. The Private Equity Roundtable was intended to provide an opportunity for a candid discussion between panelists and attendees about issues facing Private Equity firms in the GCC, [...]
Growthgate Acquires Parts of leading Iris Biometric Company
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 10, 2010: Growthgate, the GCC-based specialist buyout firm, announced that it has reached a final agreement to acquire 30% of IrisGuard, a world leader in iris recognition technologies (IRT). The company offers IRT solutions to national security organizations, law enforcement agencies, polling, electoral processors, and banking institutions around the world. [...]
Growthgate Acquires part of Averda International Ltd.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates Oct 14, 2008: Growthgate Capital Corporation, the GCC-based specialist buyout firm, announced that it has reached a final agreement to acquire 33.33% of Averda International Ltd., an integrated waste management concern with solid waste operations concentrated in the Middle East and North Africa. Averda, a privately-held company, which is majority owned [...]
Growthgate Completes a $100 Million Capitial Increase
Growthgate, the GCC-based specialist buyout firm, has announced the completion of a $100 million private placement of shares as part of its capital raising program for the current year. The funds were contributed in full by the existing shareholders of Growthgate and will be allocated to a series of earmarked investments in portfolio companies that [...]
Growthgate Acquires Part of Roots Group
Growthgate Capital Corporation, the GCC-based specialist buyout firm, has announced that it has reached a final agreement to acquire part of Arabian Roots Group, a Saudi based building materials conglomerate, and will separately acquire additional equity interests in this conglomerate's Retail Division. Arabian Roots is a privately held Saudi corporation with sales of circa SAR [...]
Growthgate-LED Consortium Acquires Part of GAMA Holding LTD
Gama Holding Ltd, owner of several business aviation companies in Europe including Gama Aviation Ltd is eying the region for expansion. Growthgate, the GCC-based specialist buyout firm, has announced that a Consortium led by it and which comprises Crescent Investment LLC and few other strategic investors, has reached a final agreement to acquire 33.33% of [...]
Growthgate Acquires 49% of E-Freight International
Growthgate the newly established Bahrain-incorporated buyout firm, has announced the execution of a final sale and purchase agreement to acquire 49% of the capital stock of E-Freight International, a leading logistics, warehousing and freight forwarding company based in the UAE. E-Freight’s estimated profits in 2007 were at AED 13 million. The company has operations in [...]

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