Investcorp seals fourth Turkey deal

Bahrain-based Investcorp has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Turkish telematics company Arvento Mobile Systems, according to a statement from the firm.

The company’s founders will retain their holdings as minority shareholders, and will remain part of the management team as chief executive officer and chief technology officer.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Investcorp declined to comment beyond the statement.

Established in 2005, Arvento provides telematics solutions, delivered as a software-as-a-service, allowing fleet operators to monitor vehicle location, fuel usage, speed and mileage, and access other insights into their mobile workforce, thereby enabling them to reduce their operating costs and increase revenues.

Investcorp said Arvento, which designs, develops and sells its own range of hardware products and software applications, is a market leader in Turkey, and “one of the leading players” in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

This is Investcorp’s fourth acquisition in Turkey. The firm has also backed: Namet, a producer of fresh cut and packaged processed red meat products; luxury branded menswear retailer Orka Group; and Tiryaki Agro, a trader and supply chain manager of agro commodities.

“Arvento is a perfect fit for Investcorp’s portfolio of corporate investments,” Mohammed Al Shroogi, Investcorp’s president of Gulf business, said. “It is the second telematics business to have been acquired by Investcorp after FleetMatics, a business that we invested in 2008 and that has rapidly expanded under our ownership, eventually leading to a successful IPO on the NYSE in 2012.”

PEI previously reported that for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, Investcorp returned around $1.3 billion to investors and posted a 25 percent increase in net profit, according to earnings statements.

Among its acquisitions in 2014 were Italian motorcycle and sports safety apparel retailer Dainese and US-based software and services firm PRO Unlimited. In August last year the firm sold Chicago-based Berlin Packaging, a supplier of rigid packaging products and services, to Oak Hill Capital Partners in a deal valued at $1.43 billion.