Investcorp buys Scottish oil field services firm

Bahrain-based investment manager Investcorp has bought a controlling stake in Scotland-based oil field services provider Hydrasun, taking its US$1bn Gulf Opportunity Fund closer to full deployment.

Investcorp has been selling assets and making new investments as financial markets recover from the twin blows of the Arab Spring uprisings and the global financial crisis.

The company did not disclose the size of the stake or the value of the deal, but said it bought the holding from Equistone Partners Europe Limited.

"It's in the middle market range," Mohammed al-Shroogi, Investcorp's president for the Gulf business, said on Monday.

"The size of the transaction is between the US$150m and US$300m range."

This is the fund's seventh deal. About US$750m of Investcorp's Gulf fund is currently invested and the company expects to fully deploy the fund by the end of July, al-Shroogi told Reuters last month.

Having focused in the past few years on deals in the Gulf region, Investcorp is increasingly buying stakes further afield.

Investcorp, which previously took public luxury brands Gucci and Tiffany & Co, had US$11.5bn in assets under management as of June 30, 2012.

The company last year sold truck and trailer parts distributor FleetPride to private equity firm TPG for over US$1bn.