Driven by rising oil revenues and booming economies, the number of private equity funds setting up in the Middle East and North Africa boomed until the beginning of the economic crisis. Some 100 funds focused on the region have raised $19.5 billion in capital there. However, now that stock markets have crashed, funds are finding it hard to deploy capital. "The sellers have dried up," says Fadi Arbid, executive vice-president and country head of Saudi Arabia at Amwal AlKhaleej, a MENA-focused private equity house. "Six months ago, companies were looking to sell stakes to private equity...
