ZAWYA: Investcorp’s $750mln fund to continue GCC deal push with focus on family firms

About this update from Investcorp Capital Plc

Seban ScariaInvestcorp, the Middle East’s largest alternative asset manager, plans to deploy about $350 million across three to four companies in the Gulf states through its $750 million Golden Horizon Partnership fund.The firm has deployed half of the fund, launched last year with China Investment Corporation, the world’s third-largest sovereign wealth fund, to invest in consumer, healthcare, transport and logistics across the GCC and China."Currently we are deploying capital in the GCC only through Golden Horizon, and about 50% of the fund has been deployed so far," Walid Majdalani, Head of Emerging Markets Private Equity at Investcorp, told Zawya. It expects to deploy the remaining $350 million by June 2028.Investment roadmapWith $62 billion in assets under management and offices globally, the alternative investment firm intends to stay the course on investing in family-owned businesses in the GCC. It has invested about $1.2 billion across 15 companies in the region. Through its Saudi Pre-IPO Growth Fund, part of the Golden Horizon platform, Investcorp has backed companies including NourNet, TruKKer and Salla based in the kingdom. Its latest investment is Metra, a value-added IT distributor headquartered in the UAE."More than 60% of our investments in the region have been made alongside family businesses, and we've continued investing through the region's economic cycles," Majdalani said.In many of its GCC investments, Investcorp becomes the first institutional investor to take a board seat alongside a founding family, helping professionalise governance rather than simply providing capital.Family businesses in the region are typically not capital constrained, he said. Instead, they approach Investcorp to institutionalise operations, execute acquisitions and prepare for expansion or a potential public listing."We will continue to ramp up our focus on family businesses in the region who want to transform into professionally managed companies that can scale across geographies, execute M&A and, if they choose, eventually list," he said.Carve-outs and homegrown firmsMany regional conglomerates own non-core business divisions that are run independently. These conglomerates are increasingly willing to spin off or sell such divisions to sharpen their strategic focus. Investcorp sees these spin offs as attractive investment opportunities, particularly in its ta...

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