Investcorp buys up 20 per cent of gas company Gulf Cryo

Gulf Cryo was founded in Kuwait in 1953 by the Al Huneidi family and under the leadership of its current chairman and CEO, Amer Salim Al Huneidi, has expanded its presence from Kuwait into the UAE, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Pakistan.

With manufacturing plants and filling stations, as well as a proprietary pipeline network and tanker fleet, Gulf Cryo produces and transports specialty gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, argon and helium to customers in the oil and gas, glass, food and beverages, healthcare, metals, construction and chemicals industries.

The industrial gases market in the Middle East has estimated annual sales of $1.5bn and has been growing at an average of 12 per cent per year, making it one of the fastest growing worldwide markets for industrial gases, the firm said.

Christophe de Mahieu, co-head of Investcorp's Gulf growth capital business, said, "This is the third investment by our Gulf Opportunity Fund. Gulf Cryo is a clear market leader in an attractive sector characterised by high barriers to entry, double digit market growth and resilient margins.”

This acquisition comes six months after Investcorp's Gulf Opportunity Fund closed its second investment, a 70 per cent stake purchase in L'Azurde, the world's fourth largest manufacturer of gold and jewellery, and 12 months after its significant minority stake investment in Redington Gulf, a distributor and service provider of IT and telecom products in the Middle East and Africa.

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