Unicorn backs Bahrain oil and gas services company

Bahrain-based Unicorn Investment Bank has acquired a 70 percent stake in Bahrain Maintenance and Diving Services (BMDS) for an undisclosed sum.

Set up in 1976, BMDS is a Bahrain oil and gas services company specialising in commercial diving, rigging, marine construction and fabrication.

The capital will be used to “further grow its business”, Aamir Khan, managing director of global private equity at Unicorn, said in a statement.

This is the sixth investment from Unicorn Global Private Equity Fund I, which is fully invested. The fund primarily makes growth investments as well as management and leveraged buyouts globally. It targets companies with annual revenues of more than $10 million and in sectors such as consumer products, healthcare, business services and light manufacturing.

The fund’s previous investments in the GCC region include Bahraini ready-mix concrete producer Orimix Concrete Products and Al Safat Industries Holding in Kuwait. Its investments outside the GCC include Precision Time, a US-based watch services provider and retailer, as well as Ellington Leather, a US-based leather handbag maker and retailer.

In June 2008, the fund exited its investment in Orimix Concrete Products, generating a return of 160 percent on its capital and an internal rate of return of 98 percent.

Founded in 2004, Unicorn Investment Bank has a presence in the US, Malaysia, the UAE and Turkey. It has six main business lines: corporate finance, capital markets, private equity, asset management, strategic mergers and acquisitions and treasury.