RIYADH: Investcorp, the Bahrain-based alternative investment manager, has closed its inaugural North America Private Equity Fund at $1.2 billion. The fund, which focuses on control buy-out investments in middle market services businesses in North America, has received capital commitments from blue chip institutional investors, including pension plans, family offices, private wealth funds and an insurance company across North America, Europe and the Gulf region. It currently has a strong portfolio of seven investments in companies across the strategy’s core business services verticals, which align with the team’s deep domain knowledge and expertise, the company said in a press release. Investcorp’s investment strategy is focused on family- and founder-owned businesses across six subsectors, including tech-enabled, knowledge and professional, data and information, supply chain, industry and specialty consumer services. The Bahraini fund manager targets companies that demonstrate resilience while also being well-positioned for market growth through multiple value-creation levers. “We have a long and established history of investing in North America mid-market services companies, and we look forward to continuing to broaden and deepen our institutional investor base as this strategy continues to scale,” said Mohammed Alardhi, executive chairman, Investcorp, in a press statement. Investcorp’s North America Private Equity group has been investing in North American mid-market businesses for over 40 years and has completed approximately 70 transactions, deploying more than $22 billion in transaction value since inception. The Bahrain-based global investment manager specializing in alternative investments across private equity, real estate, credit, absolute return strategies, GP stakes, infrastructure and insurance asset management. The company manages $50 billion in assets, including assets managed by third-party managers. It has 14 offices in the US, Europe, Gulf Cooperation Council and Asia, including India, China and Singapore. It employs approximately 500 people from 50 nationalities globally. Investcorp recently ventured into the Japanese market with the opening of its office in Tokyo, allowing it to provide global alternative investment solutions in the country and setting the grounds for its direct private equity and real estate investing in the Japanese market.