Gulf Capital closes fund

Tuesday, 23 February 2010

Private equity firm Gulf Capital announced the final closing of its latest private equity fund, GC Equity Partners II.

The fund was heavily oversubscribed with final commitments totalling approximately US$533 million, making it the largest private equity fund raised in the region in 2009.

GC Equity Partners II was the first-ever regional private equity fund to derive the majority of its investors from international markets including the US, Europe and Asia. The composition of the investor base includes some of the largest global and regional sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, endowments, banks and insurance companies.

Investments worth approximately US$160 million have been closed by GC Equity Partners II and include Ma’arif for Education and Training (the largest Saudi educational group), Technoscan (the largest chain of radiology imaging centers in the Middle East) and Gulf Marine Services (the largest operator of offshore jack-up barges in the Gulf).

The combined equity participation in all three transactions committed to date account for 30 per cent of the fund’s available capital. Other target industries for the fund include power and water, food, logistics, aviation and other services.