Sharjah-based lowcost carrier Air Arabia swung between gains and losses after the airline disclosed exposure to funds managed by Abraaj Group, the Dubai-based private equity firm that’s battling creditors, said a report.
The shares fell as much as 3.8 per cent in Dubai before rising 2.9 per cent. Trading volume was at about six times the 30-day average. The stock declined 7.1 per cent on Monday, reported Bloomberg.
Air Arabia said on Monday a team of experts is "actively engaged with all stakeholders and creditors involved with the matter” to protect its investments, without providing financial details.
Abraaj’s founder Arif Naqvi is a board member at the UAE-based dudget airline.
Abraaj, once one of the developing world’s most influential investors, last week filed for a court-supervised restructuring as it fights allegations of misused funds.
The move comes less than five months after some of its investors, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, commissioned an audit to investigate the alleged mismanagement of money in Abraaj’s healthcare fund, said the Bloomberg report.
Since then, the company, which once managed almost $14 billion for institutions and supranational agencies, has faced growing concerns about its viability, it stated.
Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security earlier this month filed a petition for the liquidation and winding up of Abraaj Holdings after it defaulted on a $100 million loan. A second creditor, Auctus Fund also filed a petition in the Cayman Islands.
Send us your company’s news today and they could be featured on ABC’s Community News tommorow.
