This episode features an interview with Simon Clark, a reporter at The Wall Street Journal and the co-author of The Key Man — the summer’s must-read book about Arif Naqvi and the downfall of The Abraaj Group.
Most listeners and followers of Portico will be familiar with the background of the Abraaj story. But if you’re not, I’d recommend that you go back and listen to Episode 8.
But even more, I’d recommend you purchase a copy of The Key Man for yourself (USA, UK). It’s an absolutely riveting book; it has the pace of John Carreyrou’s Bad Blood, but with an unbelievable cast of credulous characters who fell for a fantasy.
In today’s conversation, Simon and I discuss:
- The origins of Abraaj, some of its early transactions, and the oft-asked question: where did they get their money?
- Abraaj’s acquisition of Aureos and how it unlocked the firm’s ability to scale.
- The manufacture of social capital — the people and firms who testified to the greatness of Arif and Abraaj, seemingly without conducting an ounce of due diligence.
- The Karachi Electric deal.
- The $6B mega-fund.
- The promise of impact investing.
- The necessity of greater transparency in private equity.
- And much more.
I had four pages of questions for Simon, so we clearly didn’t get to everything on my list — and candidly some of the unasked questions may be better over a pint.
But do yourself a favor and grab a copy of the book.
I hope you enjoy the conversation.
This podcast was recorded in July 2021.
Follow Simon on Twitter.