US-based Private Equity Fund IV has hired an advisory firm to help recover money owed by Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Group.

The fund is also seeking to remove Abraaj as asset manager and to stop paying management fees due to a “breach of duties to the fund.”

The investor group alleges that Abraaj owes it at least $300m, or three times the value declared in June by US-based audit firm Deloitte, a report by news agency Reuters cites.

MEED understands the investors’ council plans to take legal action if it is unable to reach an acceptable agreement with court-appointed liquidators Deloitte and UK-based PwC.

The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands appointed representatives from Deloitte and PwC on 18 June as joint provisional liquidators (JPLs) for Abraaj Holdings (AH) and Abraaj Investment Management Limited (AIML), respectively.

Abraaj’s troubles began last year following allegations by high profile investors, led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, that a $1bn healthcare fund had been diverted and used to pay management fees and other expenses without their consent.

At least three groups are understood to have expressed an interest in acquiring AIML. They include a team of Kuwait’s Agility Capital and New York-based Centrebridge Partners, Abu Dhabi Capital Management and Cerberus Capital Management.