Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Capital has appointed veteran Deutsche banker Ashok Aram as managing director.
Aram joins Abraaj after 15 years at Deutsche Bank. He was most recently based in London as head of equity capital markets, debt capital markets, and corporate coverage and sales in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Middle East, and Africa.
During the course of his career at Deutsche, Aram helped start the bank's telecom advisory and financing practice in Asia. He was also a member of the team that worked on Deutsche's acquisition of Bankers Trust in the United States.
From 2001 to 2004, Aram was head of global banking at the German bank, responsible for corporate banking and structured finance across 60 countries. Subsequently, he helped to build Deutsche's structured credit trading and global principal finance businesses in the global markets division.
"Ashok has had an extraordinary career," said Abraaj chief executive officer Arif Naqvi in a written statement commenting on the hire. Naqvi said that, at Abraaj, Aram will work closely with managing director Mustafa Abdel-Wadood.
Dubai-based Abraaj Capital is a financial sponsor that invests in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia regions. Since it was formed in 2002 it has raised about $7 billion, made more than 35 investments in 11 countries and exited 20 investments. Among its investments, Abraaj has holdings in: Air Arabia, the region's largest low-cost carrier; Acibadem Healthcare Group, Turkey's biggest privately owned operator of premium hospitals; and Al Borg Laboratory, the Middle East's biggest medical laboratory-testing company.
Aram has been involved with Abraaj for several years. Since 2004 he has been on the Abraaj board representing Deutsche's shareholding in the company. Deutsche Bank has been a shareholder of Abraaj since its inception.
