Bahrain-based Global asset manager Investcorp has plans to delist its shares from the Bahrain Bourse as it charts the next phase of its growth.
Investcorp said in a statement that the alternative asset manager, which counts Mubadala Investment Company as its largest shareholder and manages $35.4 billion in assets, has received shareholder approval for a board recommendation to delist and convert the company into a closed shareholding entity.
The delisting plan is still pending regulatory clearance and the completion of the necessary legal procedures, which Investcorp hopes to complete in the third quarter of this year.
Mr. Mohammed Alardhi, the company’s Executive Chairman remarked that “delisting and becoming a private company is the most appropriate ownership structure at this stage in the continuing journey of Investcorp. It will allow us to be agile, focused on investing for our long-term strategy, and enables our senior leadership team to be dedicated to driving growth.”
Bahrain and the GCC region are part of the company’s “historical fabric” and would continue to be important markets for Investcorp in terms of investment activity, whether in private equity or infrastructure, as well as with clients, investors, and other stakeholders, Mr. Alardhi said.
Investcorp, which was founded more than four decades ago, has grown to become one of the region’s leading alternative asset management firms, investing across asset classes and geographies.
The delisting will benefit Investcorp’s stockholders in Bahrain and the wider region because of the firm’s “long-term plans,” which are expected to generate future value for all stakeholders, according to the company.
Mr. Alardhi pointed out that “we remain fully committed to pursuing our global growth over the long term via both organic and inorganic initiatives and are excited about the future as we advance our ambitious, yet prudent, expansion strategy.”
Investcorp reported a 33 percent increase in first-half net profit in February, owing to increasing asset-based income. The profit for the six months ending December 31, 2020, jumped to $63 million.
For the period, asset-based revenue climbed more than thrice to $45 million. Asset under management (AUM) fees increased 16 percent year over year to $101 million, it said in a bourse filing at the time.
Alternative asset managers invest in asset classes outside public markets, such as private equity, private credit, venture capital, hedge funds, commodities, real estate, and infrastructure.
Investcorp’s investment activity of $1.4 billion during the first half of its financial year was driven by two new private equity investments in the US and Europe as well as two add-on acquisitions. It also invested in eight businesses across Asia.
It stated that the company has increased investments during the COVID-19 situation to capitalize on lower asset valuations and is bullish on the prospects of industrial as well as multi-family residential properties in the US.
According to its market disclosure in February, it invested more than $300 million on real estate in the US and Europe during the first quarter.
Investcorp owns shares in ticketing services provider Vivaticket, Cambio, a Nordic provider of eHealth services, Abax, a European telematics company, and Securelink, a US-based cybersecurity firm. American Tire Distributors, Berlin Packaging, FleetPride, and Wrench Group are among the company’s industrial services investments.
It paid an undisclosed sum to ECI Partners and a group of minority investors to acquire communications agency Investis Digital.
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