Investcorp, one of the leading institutional investors in hedge funds with approximately $9.8 billion under management has said their bank has decided to proceed with an offer of ordinary shares in the form of Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs).
The new GDRs application for admittance for trading on the London Stock Exchange will be listed under the ticker symbol IVC.
Nemir A. Kirdar, Investcorp’s president and chief executive officer, said: “This offering and our GDR listing on London’s main market will help us scale our platform to capture the accelerating growth in alternative investments in the Gulf, while also further enhancing our international presence through improved brand awareness.”
The program offers clients a selection of funds of hedge funds with varying risk/return profiles. These are invested across different strategies through approximately 40 hedge fund managers. Investcorp launched the world’s first collateralized debt structure backed by hedge funds.
Investcorp specializes in four lines of business, hedge funds, private equity and venture capital in North America and Western Europe and real estate in the United States. Its investment products are offered to institutional and individual clients, primarily in the Persian Gulf.
Investcorp also plans to expand existing product lines in the fiscal year 2007 by launching a private equity fund targeted at North American and European institutional investors, and a real estate fund dedicated to mezzanine investments.
40% of Investcorp is owned by more than half of its total staff. A further 40% is owned by a group of the Firm’s most prominent clients, some of whom are also Directors of the Firm. The balance of the stock is held by public shareholders through Investcorp’s listing on the Bahrain Stock Exchange.