Bahrain’s Investcorp looks to raise up to $548 m in yuan fund

Encouraged by its successful share sale through an IPO, Investcorp Capital, an alternative asset manager based in Bahrain, is reported to be looking to raise 2 billion to 4 billion yuan ($274 million-$548 million) for setting up its first private equity fund in the Chinese currency.

Investcorp's co-chief executive officer Hazem Ben-Gacem said the company will be applying for a licence with Chinese regulatory bodies in the next few months so that it can start raising funds from domestic institutions.

He said the company is exploring buyout opportunities in the country.

Investcorp Capital plc, a provider of capital and capital financing services in the alternative investments space, which has come out with an initial public offer (IPO), also set the final offer price of AED 2.30 at the top end for its ordinary share with nominal value of $0.50.

This implied a dividend yield of 8.4 per cent for the year ending 30 June 2024

The shares will be listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).

The IPO was heavily oversubscribed with strong demand from international and regional institutional investors and raised  approximately AED 1.66 bn (about $451m).

“Investcorp Capital’s highly attractive investment proposition and impressive dividend payout was able to bring strong demand to the offering, which will be a regional first. Together with the rest of the Investcorp capital executive team, we look forward to continuing this momentum with the company’s listing and growth through investment expertise,” chief executive officer, Timothy Mattar, said:

As previously announced, Investcorp sold 720,000,000 shares, which included 321,500,000 new shares and 398,500,000 existing shares, forming 32.85 per cent of the company’s issued share capital.