Investcorp is said to raise $1bn for North American deals

Investcorp Holdings has raised about $1bn for its first private equity fund focused on North American assets, according to people familiar the matter.

The biggest private equity and alternative asset manager in the Middle East is set to complete a first close on the fund soon, and aims to eventually raise about $2bn, the people said. The fund will focus on investing in areas including technology and data companies, along with supply chain and industrial services.

Among the fund’s backers are a Middle East sovereign wealth fund and large asset managers from the US and Europe, the people said, declining to be named because the information isn’t public.

Bahrain-based Investcorp, which oversees about $34bn, is raising more funds for specific uses as it looks to boost assets under management. It’s previously tended to book deals on its own balance sheet and sell them on to investors.

Set up in 1982, the money manager is already the Gulf’s largest private investor in US real estate and has said it wants to boost its assets under management to $50bn in the coming years. Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala in 2017 acquired a 20 per cent stake in Investcorp, which has backed companies including Tiffany & Co. and Gucci Ltd.