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When Nemir Kirdar set up Investcorp in 1982, he didn’t just want to set up a new investment vehicle – he had the ambition to create an institution that would last for the long term. More than 30 years have passed since then and, with Investcorp still going strong, he has evidently succeeded.
From its offices in Bahrain, London and New York, Investcorp has managed to bridge the gap between the Middle East and the west, tapping into the revenues that the Gulf has garnered from its oil and gas exports and recycling them into investments in Europe and north America.
Along the way Kirdar, as chairman and chief executive of Investcorp, has helped his firm to back companies with tens of billions of dollars-worth of investments.
Born in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk in October 1936 to a prominent local family, Kirdar went to school in Baghdad and then on to Robert College in Istanbul, where he initially studied engineering before switching to economics and political science.