Investcorp closes $1.2 billion debut US equity fund

Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

• Bahrain’s Investcorp is branching out into the US
• Investors include pensions and private wealth funds
• Investcorp managed $50bn of assets in 2022

Investcorp has raised more than $1.2 billion for its inaugural North American private equity fund.

The Middle East’s biggest alternative asset manager, which managed $50 billion in assets as of December 2022, said the new fund will concentrate on control buy-out investments in middle market services businesses in North America.

Investcorp’s US launch will have a focus on family and founder-owned business across six sub-sectors: tech-enabled, knowledge and professional, data and information, supply chain, industry and specialty consumer services.

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“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 fund currently has a portfolio of seven investments across different companies.

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

Commitments for the fund raise came from blue chip institutional investors, including pension plans, family offices, private wealth funds and an insurance company across North America, Europe and the Gulf region, a statement by the company added.

Investcorp’s North America private equity group has been investing in mid-market firms in the territory for more than 40 years. It has completed around 70 transactions, deploying more than $22 billion in transaction value.

The Bahrain-based company last month also announced the opening of an office in Tokyo to provide global alternative investment solutions in Japan.

Beyond its US launch, expansion plans also include growing its business in India fivefold in the next five years.