Over the next five years, Bahrain’s Investcorp wants to spend up to $1 billion in the real estate markets of the Gulf Cooperation Council nations, with a particular focus on Saudi Arabia in order to take advantage of the developing logistics industry in the Kingdom.
The international investment firm has purchased a 215,000 sq ft temperature-controlled warehouse in Dammam, marking its first real estate purchase in Saudi Arabia. The company said in a statement that this is the first of several $100 million real estate investments it is now evaluating throughout the Kingdom. Racking Systems Logistics Services Co., better known as RTL, a third-party logistics firm that provides temperature-controlled warehousing and distribution services to the Saudi market, has been given a lease on the company’s Dammam warehouse.
With this addition, Investcorp’s global assets in storage and logistics now total more than $4 billion and account for 42 million square feet of industrial space. According to the co-CEO of the company, Hazem Ben-Gacem, the real estate industry of Saudi Arabia is expanding quickly. As foundational pillars of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan to make the country a leading industrial powerhouse and a hub for global logistics, the industrial and logistics sectors have great potential.
Since its entry into Saudi Arabia in 2008, Investcorp has listed four Saudi companies publicly on Tadawul.
He also added that in the growth journey of logistics, Investcorp is the sole natural partner, which is helping the business of the company with a global investment experience with this acquisition, particularly in the regions of Europe, the US, and India. According to Investcorp, this is the first of several investments the company plans to make soon, with a goal of investing $1 billion over the following five years.
The company’s first warehouse facility acquisition in the GCC, according to Babak Sultani, head of GCC Real Estate at Investcorp, adds to recent activity in the area where we anticipate long-term development trends, notably in the Saudi Arabian market. In addition to consumer products, tech-enabled services, manufacturing, transport and logistics, and industrial services, he said that the corporation had big plans for a variety of real estate sectors that support healthcare, education, and entertainment.
The acquisition comes after the company’s most recent investment in the GCC logistics market, which was a $100 million funding round in TruKKer Holding Limited that was sponsored by the Gulf Pre-IPO Growth Fund in September 2022. In addition, NourNet, one of the top connectivity and ICT service providers in Saudi Arabia, was acquired by Investcorp for a majority stake, the news release stated.
In the growth journey of logistics, Investcorp is the sole natural partner.
Since its entry into Saudi Arabia in 2008, Investcorp has listed four Saudi companies publicly on Tadawul, potentially creating a market of over 40 billion dollars through pre-listing marketing campaigns for each of the companies.
Assets under management, including those managed by third parties, were $42.7 billion as of June 30th, 2022 for Investcorp Group.
