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Bahrain’s Investcorp, best known for its investments in luxury groups such as Gucci and Tiffany, has changed its leadership team in a move that gives more power to executive chairman Mohammed Alardhi.
On Monday, the company said it would eliminate its co-CEO structure, with one of its co-CEOs, Hazem Ben-Gacem, leaving the company while the other, Rishi Kapoor, would become vice chairman and chief investment officer.
Alardhi “will assume additional responsibilities previously held by the co-CEOs,” the company said. The co-CEO structure has been in place since 2015.
Founded in 1982, Investcorp was founded by Iraqi financier Nemir Kirdar is a pioneering asset management company bringing the Middle East’s abundant oil resources to developed markets.
The group quickly made a name for itself by purchasing luxury brands Tiffany and then Gucci in the 1980s. Kirdar stepped down as executive in 2015 and handed over the leadership to Alardhi.
Alardhi, a former commander of the Oman Air Force, has set ambitious targets for growing the group’s assets since taking over from Kirdar. Investcorp now manages $52 billion in assets and employs about 500 people across 14 offices.
As part of Monday’s announcement, Investment company also said that the firm’s investment activities in the future will be organized into three “business lines”: private equity, real assets and credit, along with an expanded executive committee.
“As we increase our focus on leveraging the strength of our existing investment platform, we recognize this is the right time to expand our executive leadership team to support our future growth plans,” Alardhi said in a statement.
As part of the changes, Ben-Gacem, who has worked at Investcorp for three decades and has been co-CEO since 2018, will remain vice chairman of Investcorp Capital, an Abu Dhabi-listed investment vehicle that is part of the larger group.
While Investcorp’s trading activities have been relatively low-key in recent years, the company has attracted attention for its failed attempt in 2022 to buy Italian football club AC Milan.
Last February the group open an office in Tokyo to raise capital and pursue acquisitions of premium Japanese manufacturers and other hidden gems.
The firm also invests in a variety of assets, including a dialysis provider in Asia, a packaging company in India, student dormitories in the US and a company working on the redevelopment of John F Kennedy airport in New York.
