Gulf Capital Completes Full Exit from Gulf Marine Services

Gulf Capital, one of the largest and most active alternative asset management firms in the Middle East, recently completed its full exit from Gulf Marine Services (“GMS”) through four consecutive block sales over the last month on the London Stock Exchange.

Through a series of a leveraged recapitalisation pre-IPO, a highly successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange and several block sales post IPO, Gulf Capital completed the realisation of its investment in GMS.

The company generated, in total, a Multiple on Original Invested Capital (MOIC) of over 5.3x and an IRR of 31% for GC Equity Partners II, its second private equity fund which held the GMS investment.

GMS is the leading operator of self-propelled Self Elevated Support Vessels ("SESV") in the Middle East and in the Southern North Sea in Europe, with clients in the offshore oil and gas industry and wind turbine installation sector.

Commenting on the final exit, Dr. Karim El Solh, CEO and Managing Partner of Private Equity at Gulf Capital, said: "The last four block sales over the last month on the London Stock Exchange completed our final exit from GMS.”

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Mr. Richard Dallas, Senior Managing Director of Private Equity, Gulf Capital, added: "This is a landmark transaction not only for Gulf Capital, but also for private equity in the Middle East.

“It demonstrates that our region is capable of growing world-class businesses and of competing on a global scale.

“It also demonstrates that private equity firms in the Middle East can execute successful exits through a combination of leveraged recapitalisations, IPOs and secondary block sales.

“Gulf Capital is currently evaluating a number of other similar investments in the region and will continue its strategy of partnering with world-class management teams and pursuing proprietary control buy-outs in the Middle East.”

Dr. El Solh concluded: “2018 is proving to be a productive year for Gulf Capital with over half a dozen exits under way in our private equity and private debt divisions.”

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