Investcorp plans regional expansion

18 February 2013

Bahrain-based investment firm made $1.5bn-worth of deals in past 12 months

Bahrain’s Investcorp is planning to open new offices in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar as part of an expansion plan in the region to help it market international investments to its regional clients.

“We have a plan to expand in the Gulf,” said Mohammed al-Shroogi, president for the investment firm’s Gulf business. “The heart of what we do is offering opportunities to clients so we want to be close to where they are.”

The regional expansion comes despite the firm admitting that there are only limited opportunities for it to actually invest in the Middle East.

Investcorp’s latest acquisition is a deal valued at between $150m-300m for a controlling stake in Scotland-based oil and gas services provider Hydrasun. Over the past 12 months, Al-Shroogi says the company has completed 12 investments worth $1.5bn in the US, Europe and the Middle East.

The company’s last regional fundraising was a $1bn fund put in place in 2007. Al-Shroogi says Investcorp is now working on whether to raise a new fund, or wait to take specific deals to its clients. “We’re now discussing whether to launch another fund or do more deal-by-deal investments,” he says.

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