Investcorp Holdings BSC, the Middle East’s biggest alternative asset manager, will delist from the Bahrain stock exchange after almost four decades in response to low trading volumes, the latest in a string of companies in the region to go back into private ownership.
The firm, which manages assets of more than $35 billion, got approval from investors to delist at a shareholder meeting in Bahrain Wednesday. Investcorp shareholders will have the option either to let the company buy back the stock or to remain as investors in a private entity.
“Looking at our future strategy and growth plans, Investcorp is better off for its shareholders as a private company,” co-Chief Executive Officer Hazem Ben-Gacem said in an interview. “That’s where we feel we can generate the best returns, and execute on our strategy without having to worry about quarterly results or certain other requirements of public markets.”
The company will continue to be headquartered in Manama, with the Central Bank of Bahrain as its primary regulator, Ben-Gacem said. “For now our focus is on executing our long-term plan as a private company, and there’s no plans to consider another public listing,” he said.
Investcorp is one of the biggest international financial firms in Bahrain, which used to be the Middle East’s financial center until the rise of Dubai as a business and banking hub in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Yet trading on Bahrain’s bourse has languished in recent years.
On some days less than a million shares change hands, and Investcorp’s stock was rarely traded at all. It was the the sixth-biggest member of the Bahrain Bourse All Share Index, with a weighting of 4.3%.
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