Dubai International Capital has recruited Alykhan Nathoo from Bain Capital to become chief executive of its emerging markets division – one of three alongside private equity and public equ
Dubai International Capital has recruited Alykhan Nathoo from Bain Capital to become chief executive of its emerging markets division – one of three alongside private equity and public equities with a total of USD13bn in assets under management – as part of its strategy to increase emerging markets exposure and balance its international portfolio.
He will be responsible for spearheading direct investments in emerging markets and managing the growth plans of the existing portfolio, which includes significant stakes in Rivoli and KEF in the United Arab Emirates, True Group in Singapore and the group’s country-specific funds, Jordan Dubai Capital and Saudi Dubai Capital.
Nathoo was a member of the founding team of Bain Capital Europe and was active in the firm’s European entry strategy and organisational development. Most recently he led the USD1.7bn acquisition of Ideal Standard Bath & Kitchen from American Standard.
‘We are focused on the continual strengthening and upgrading of the DIC team, ensuring we have world-class leadership and investment professionals,’ says executive chairman Sameer Al Ansari. ‘Alykhan’s appointment and his vision for the business is an important step in expanding DIC’s emerging markets portfolio.’
Says Nathoo: ‘DIC provides a unique platform to establish one of the pre-eminent emerging markets private equity firms, given its track record of growth, access to capital, geographical location and depth of relationships within emerging markets. My focus in 2009 will be to build a world-class investing team and investment process to focus DIC’s direct investing efforts across specific emerging markets.’
DIC has also appointed Eric Kump as managing director and Marc Hollander as finance director of its private equity division, reporting to private equity chief executive Sylvain Denis.
‘Eric will spearhead our private equity team in Europe from our London-based European headquarters, focusing on accelerating the growth of our portfolio and originating new investments,’ Denis says. ‘Marc will focus on maximising the performance of our existing investments, as well as keeping a tight control on risk management and reporting.’
Kump has 16 years of experience in international private equity and investment banking, having previously been a managing director with Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity where he was a member of the investment committee and a non-executive board member of numerous portfolio companies. At Merrill he focused on European leveraged buyouts in the financial services, leisure, retail, distribution, industrial and health care sectors.
Hollander joins from Sweden’s Investor, where he was a managing director in the private equity division and responsible for controlling and reporting for the firm’s USD2.5bn private equity portfolio. At DIC he will be responsible for accounting and financial reporting, including risk control, valuation policies and the execution of various projects. He began his career with a seven-year spell at ABN Amro.
Established in 2004 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dubai Holding, DIC has offices in Dubai and London. Its private equity division invests mainly in secondary buyouts in developed markets where it backs strong existing management teams over a medium to long time horizon, with acquisitions including leisure company Tussauds Group and engineering companies Doncasters and FastenTech in the UK, and industrial packaging manufacturer Mauser and specialty alumina producer Almatis in Germany.
DIC Global Equities makes structured investments in large-cap global companies, either directly or via DIC’s USD2bn Global Strategic Equities Fund, which has taken stakes in HSBC, Airbus owner EADS, Sony Corporation, India’s ICICI Bank and New York-based hedge fund manager Och-Ziff.
The emerging markets invests both through direct equity stakes in companies mainly in the Middle East and Asia and through sector- and company-specific funds such as Ishraq, which is developing the Holiday Inn Express brand in the Middle East, the USD500m MENA Infrastructure Fund, the USD300m Jordan Dubai Capital and the USD1bn Saudi Dubai Capital.
