Dubai-based Abraaj Group has sold its stake in Tunisian pharmaceutical company Opalia Pharma to international pharmaceutical company Recordati.

The deal was part of Recordati’s acquisition of about 67 per cent of Opalia’s share capital held by non-Tunisian investors, which was sold for a total of €22.6m ($31.1m). The Italian stock exchange-listed firm is looking at acquiring another 23 per cent of the company in the coming months.

Abraaj was advised by France’s Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking, the UK’s Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and Tunisia’s Meziou, Knani & Khlif on the deal.

The private equity investor bought its stake in Tunisia’s third-largest local pharmaceutical company in 2009, marking its first purchase in the Tunisian market.

Abraaj is increasingly eyeing Africa for returns. In June, it announced it had invested a total of $2.2bn in 69 companies on the continent. Another was added to that list in October, when Abraaj invested in African Industrial Services Group, an Ivory Coast-based engineering services and component manufacturing and distribution firm.