Saudi-based private equity firm Swicorp may complete between five and seven deals worth up to $400 million next year in the Middle East and North Africa, despite a liquidity squeeze, its top official said.

Nabil Triki, Swicorp's managing-director and head of private equity, also said he expected to see consolidation in the private equity industry over the next five years, with five to 10 firms managing 80 per cent of the funds in the region.

'We'd like to do between five to seven transactions a year and that's what we expect to do in 2009 - the total would be between $250 million to $400 million,' Triki told Reuters on the sidelines of a private equity conference in Dubai.

'The liquidity crunch will have a short-term impact (on the Middle East and North Africa region) as we could see a fall in the number of transactions but in the medium- to long-term, there will be little effect.'

Triki said that 2009 could see about 20 private equity deals in the region with a total worth of $2-3 billion. Swicorp plans to focus on investments in the energy and consumer goods sectors.

'There is access to energy here in the region and as for consumer goods, the demographics support such an investment as most of the population is young,' he said.

Last month, Swicorp spent $150 million to buy a strategic stake in Jordan Aviation, a leasing firm active in the Middle East and whose top client is the United Nations.-Reuters