Bahrain’s Investcorp raises $1.2bn to boost investments in North America

Alternative asset manager aims to invest in mid-market businesses in the services sector

Investcorp has grown to become one of the leading alternative asset management companies in the region. Photo: Investcorp

Bahrain’s Investcorp, the alternative asset manager that counts Mubadala Investment Company as its biggest shareholder, has raised more than $1.2 billion from its inaugural North American private equity fund as it looks to boost its investments in mid-market services businesses on the continent.

Blue-chip institutional investors such as pension plans, family offices, private wealth funds and an insurance company participated in the North American Private Equity Fund I, Investcorp said on Wednesday.

“We have a long and established history of investing in North America mid-market services companies, and we look forward to continuing to broaden and deepen our institutional investor base as this strategy continues to scale,” said Mohammed Alardhi, executive chairman of Investcorp.

The company is focusing on family and founder-owned businesses across six sub-sectors, including technology-enabled, knowledge and professional, data and information, supply chain, industry and speciality consumer services as part of its investment strategy.

The fund currently has seven investments within its portfolio.

“We are excited about the potential growth and value-creation opportunities presented by fund I’s existing portfolio companies and our robust pipeline of potential new investments,” said Dave Tayeh, North America’s head of private equity at Investcorp.

Set up in 1982, Investcorp has grown to become one of the leading alternative asset management companies in the region.

The company went on an acquisition spree during the Covid-19 pandemic to capitalise on lower asset valuations and continued its aggressive portfolio expansion in 2022.

Investcorp has carried its deal-making momentum into 2023 and in January said it plans to invest up to $1 billion in the GCC property market over the next five years.

In January, it announced its first Gulf property investment in a temperature-controlled 19,974-square-metre warehouse in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

It was the first in a series of property investments worth $100 million in total that Investcorp was assessing in the kingdom, the company said at the time.

In February, Investcorp agreed to make a “significant” investment in Finland-based technology company Eficode to become its majority shareholder.

As part of the deal, Investcorp is teaming up with Eficode’s founder Risto Virkkala and its chief executive Ilari Nurmi to support the company’s next phase of growth and international expansion.

Investcorp is also looking at new investment deals in Japan, Asia’s second-largest economy, as the company continues to expand its operations globally.

Investcorp’s North America Private Equity group has completed about 70 transactions in North American mid-market businesses, with investments worth more than $22 billion since inception, the company said.