Abraaj undergoes restructuring following allegations of “misuse” of health fund: Emerging markets private equity giant Abraaj Group announced on Friday that it is undergoing a management restructuring and corporate reorganization that will see Omar Lodhi and Selcuk Yorgancioglu promoted to co-CEOs alongside the firm’s founder Arif Naqvi, effective immediately. The reorganization will see the spinoff of Abraaj Investment Management Limited (AIML) from Abraaj Holdings, which will be independently managed. “The fund management business will continue to oversee the operations of all of Abraaj’s funds globally on behalf of leading institutional investors and manage a portfolio of investee businesses across Asia, Africa, Middle East, Turkey and Latin America,” a company statement said.

“AIML has commissioned a comprehensive review of its corporate structure with areas of focus to include governance and control functions. Independent specialist consultants have been retained to carry out this review,” the statement says. This change follows reports first printed in the Wall Street Journal that a number of top investors in the firm’s Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund had sought an independent review of an alleged delay in deploying capital called by the fund. The firm shot back at the reports (pdf), calling them inaccurate and explaining the delay.

“The key now is to fix the plumbing and the backbone, and that is what we are really focused on doing right now” for the fund management business, Naqvi said in an interview with Bloomberg on Friday. “This has got to be the right time to create the transitionary moment when we create an entity that is fit for purpose going forward,” he added.