But among private-equity firms, Crescent is one of a kind. Shari'ah, sacred Islamic law codified in the eighth and ninth centuries, forbids charging or paying interest for loans. So, instead of paying interest for borrowed money, Crescent will often agree to take out a lease on a lender's assets, such as equipment, software, or real estate. The result is identical to a term loan, Crosland says. "We had to create the wheel, but we're now in the same position as any other private-equity lender to pursue acquisitions and finance them."

The amount of money being moved boggles the mind. In December 2003, Crescent sold a division of one of its companies, Medifax-EDI Inc., to a publicly traded company, WebMD Corporation, for $280 million--more than twice what Crescent paid for the entire company in June 2001. Once a second, smaller division of the company is sold later this year, Middle Eastern investors are expected to gain net returns of more than 50 percent a year. And, if the merger with Loehmann's goes through this summer, as expected, Crescent will have positioned itself as a player in the acquisition of public, as well as private, companies.

But it's building young, innovative businesses that Crosland says he finds truly rewarding. He points to the company's purchase of Cirrus; the airplane manufacturing company's success is a classic American story of two brothers who created a new product in a barn in the Midwest. The company's planes are equipped with a parachute that can float a damaged craft safely to the ground. Crosland expects that Cirrus will generate $200 million in revenue this year.

Given the current climate of terrorism in the world, American companies could be suspicious of Crescent's Middle Eastern connections--but usually are not. "Smart business people in the U.S. get over that," says Ogburn. "They do their fact-checking about who we are, and then they make a rational business decision."

That's much the same way that Ogburn decides where to take his family on vacation.

Larson '93 is a freelance writer based in Maggie Valley, North Carolina.