Investcorp eyes India as active market and plans to deploy the new fund
Staff Report
Riyadh: The Middle East’s biggest alternative asset manager – Investcorp – is setting up a $1 billion investment fund, backed by Beijing’s sovereign wealth fund – China Investment Corporation (CIC)- to invest in companies across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and China.
The launch of “Investcorp Golden Horizon” will be anchored by reputable institutional and private investors from the GCC, as well as CIC.
Target companies are expected to have high growth potential in respective sectors, including consumer, healthcare, logistics and business services.
The Investcorp Saudi Pre-IPO Growth Fund, which is part of the Platform, has already announced three investments in the GCC.
The announcement of the launch was made today at the Investcorp’s China-GCC Investment and Business Cooperation Summit in Riyadh.
“CIC’s commitment is a testament to Investcorp’s franchise in the GCC and reinforces the trust placed in the firm’s global platform and teams. We are looking forward to building on this relationship and growing our partnership in the future,” Mohammed Alardhi, Investcorp’s Executive Chairman, said.
During the past couple of years, Dr. Bin Qi, Executive Vice President and Deputy CIO of CIC, said that CIC has built several bilateral funds with leading financial institutions to facilitate industrial cooperation between China and major economies in the world.
“Currently we are working closely with Investcorp to build a similar bilateral fund to strengthen financial and industrial ties between China and GCC countries.”
The Mubadala-backed firm Investcorp, which manages assets of over $50 billion and entered the Indian market by acquiring IDFC Alternatives’ private equity and real estate business in 2019, eyes India as the “most active market and plans to deploy the new fund within three years, Rishi Kapoor, CEO of Investcorp, said recently.
Having completed 16 transactions so far in India, including investments in companies like Xpressbees and FreshToHome, Investcorp aims to support 10-15 companies over three years with deal sizes ranging from $30 million to $50 million.
