US-based investment management firm Colony Capital is to acquire four of Dubai-based Abraaj’s emerging market funds. The sale, value of which has not been disclosed, is expected to close on 1 July.

The acquisition was announced days after the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands appointed representatives from UK-based PwC and US-based Deloitte as joint provisional liquidators (JPLs) for Abraaj Holdings (AH) and Abraaj Investment Management Limited (AIML), respectively.

Colony has agreed to buy Abraaj’s Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and Turkey funds management business.

The deal covers Abraaj’s investment stakes in these funds, as well as the transfer of staff in eight offices to Colony.

The sale to Colony was undertaken with the JPLs, to which the court granted “extensive powers” for the protection and management of Abraaj’s assets, including maintaining oversight of board and management activities.

“We sincerely hope that this can enable the process of rebuilding on all sides and also bring an end to the speculation that has swirled around Abraaj over the last months,” Tom Barrack, executive chairman of Colony Capital, said in a joint statement.

Colony is also expected to supervise Abraaj’s older funds on an interim basis “so the group and all its stakeholders have a comprehensive global solution in place,” the statement said.

Abraaj said in an earlier statement that its creditors have “provided full support for the JPLs to work alongside the company to formulate an implement a restructuring of the company’s liabilities”.

The UAE’s Abu Dhabi Capital Management (ADCM), a subsidiary of investment group Abu Dhabi Financial Group, this week launched a $50m bid to acquire Abraaj Investment Management Limited (AIML), the asset management arm of the embattled Dubai-based investment firm.

The conditional offer is significantly lower than the $125m offered for AIML by New York-based Cerberus Capital Management prior to Abraaj’s application for provisional liquidation in the Cayman Islands.

Both firms are understood to have outlined similar conditions for their offers, which preclude taking on the existing liabilities of either Abraaj’s holding company or its asset management business.

ADCM is also understood to have indicated that it will not buy companies owned by Abraaj.

A Cayman Islands court is scheduled to hear on 29 June the Kuwait pension fund’s petition to appoint US-based FTI Consulting as liquidator of Abraaj Holding for non-payment of a $100m debt.

Boston-based Auctus Fund also asked for the liquidation of AIML due to an outstanding debt of over $100m.

Auctus Fund’s petition follows an independent auditor’s report that Abraaj commingled an estimated $95m after it faced cash shortages.

Money from Abraaj’s $1bn healthcare fund was used to pay management fees and other expenses, a report by US-based Deloitte found, although the audit firm ruled out embezzlement or misappropriation.

An earlier audit conducted by Netherlands-based KPMG found “no misuse of funds” following allegations by high profile investors led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that the $1bn healthcare fund had been diverted.