Investcorp Capital starts gauging interest for $600 million Abu Dhabi IPO
The deal would be the first of its kind in the Middle East
Dubai: Investcorp Holdings, the Middle East’s biggest alternative asset manager, is planning to start meeting investors for the $600 million initial public offering of an investment vehicle in Abu Dhabi, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Bahrain-based investor is looking to start the meetings as soon as next week, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. The IPO of the vehicle - Investcorp Capital - could come as soon as September, they said.
Investcorp is working with HSBC Holdings on the potential offering, the people said. Goldman Sachs Group, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emirates NBD, and Moelis & Co. have also been working on the deal, Bloomberg News reported in March.
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Investcorp Capital will contain stakes in assets across private equity, real estate, credit and corporate investments, the people said. Details such as size and timing are still preliminary and subject to change, they said.
Representatives for Investcorp and HSBC declined to comment.
The deal would be the first of its kind in the Middle East, which has been in the midst of an IPO boom since late 2021. After a blockbuster 2022, listing activity has slowed this year on lower oil prices and concerns over a possible recession.
About $5.1 billion has been raised through listings in the region this year, a 64 per cent drop from a year ago, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s still 45 per cent of the year’s total volumes in all of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the data show.
Investcorp, which has backed luxury firms such as Tiffany & Co. and Gucci, delisted from the Bahrain stock exchange in 2021 after close to four decades due to low trading volumes and a desire to expand faster.
Originally established to raise money from the Gulf to invest in the US and Europe, the firm has become more global in recent years. It has offices in Beijing, Singapore, Japan and India as it seeks to expand in Asia.
Investcorp has $50 billion in assets under management and counts some of the Middle East’s wealthiest royals and business moguls as its shareholders. Its businesses include private equity, real estate, infrastructure, credit management, strategic capital and absolute return investments.
Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala Investment Co. acquired a 20 per cent stake in Investcorp in 2017.