DUBAI: Private equity firm Abraaj Group has hired investment bank Moelis & Co. to advise it on options for selling its stake in UAE-based payments provider Network International, either through a stock market listing or a private sale, according to sources.

Abraaj has also been talking to banks including JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs as part of the dual-track process, said two of the sources.

Dubai-based Abraaj acquired a 49 percent stake in 2011 in Network International, which according to the company’s website holds a 70 percent market share of the region’s payment services industry. At the time, Abraaj said it was paying around AED2 billion ($544.57 million) for the deal.

The location for an initial public offering (IPO) would either be Dubai or London, one of the sources said, adding the deal could be around $1 billion or higher.