ARIF NAQVI'S CAPITALIST FAIRY TALE
Before it collapsed in 2019, the Dubai-Based Abraaj was the world’s biggest private equity firm focused on emerging markets with some $14 billion of assets under management. Its founder and chief execute, the charismatic Karachi-born Arif Naqvi now stands accused of unprecedented fraud and theft to the tune of $780 million. He is appearing an extradition order from London to the US, where he faces up to 290 years in jail. Two reporters associated with the Wall Street Journal who first broke the story of problems at Abraaj, have panned a book detailing their investigation. The book, published internationally on July 8, is based on official indictments, an Abraaj emails that became a part of the court record and interviews with over 150 people, including 70 worked for Abraaj. Eos is proud to bring you an exclusive authorized except from The Key Man: How The Global Elite Was Duped By A Capitalist Fairy Tale. This excerpt is primarily drawn from a chapter titled ‘Doubling Down’ which covers the period immediately after 2016 when Abraaj’s financial problems began to become severe ..
Seen from space, the earth has been transformed in the last fifty years as new clusters of yellow-white lights sprang up across Asia. Africa and Latin America. The lights mark the speed of globalization, as sprawling cities emerged to rival London, Paris, and New York in size. Where once there darkness now there is light, Karachi, Kolkata, Dubai, Cairo, Riyadh, Jakarta, Lima and Lagos shine into the night sky and claim there places in a global constellation that includes the electrified urban centers of North America and Europe.
The cities glowed like pots of gold to Arif Naqwi, the founder of Abraaj Group, the largest private equity firm operating in emerging markets. The new were treasure to exploit, fruits of globalization, beacons of a new prosperity that was emerging as millions of people moved out of the countryside. "It is cities, not countries, that are going to be driving economics growth." Arif told investors and politicians. "You can invest into the infrastructure of cities and almost anything you touch, whether it's logistics, healthcare, education, financial service, consumer goods, and services -- and i could keep going on with that list -- there will always be an investible opportunity within urbanisation that is going to land up helping you make money." To size this opportunity. Arif team up with his grandest, most desperate plan. Even though Abraaj was in serve financial trouble in 2016. Arif decide to try and raise $6billion for the biggest emerging markets private equity fund the world had ever seen. The fund would by companies serving the emerging middle classes in the new cities illuminating the night Abraaj's eternal code name for this fund was pancia, after the united supercontinent that existed hundreds of millions of years ago. Raising the $6 billion fund was the only way to keep Abraaj afloit. Many of the firm's investments were struggling and Arif couldn't pay bills without stealing. Convincing investors on fund over $6 billions wasn't going to be easy, and Arif's dill as a very teller was put to it's greatest test yet
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