Investcorp Close To Selling US Mall

Bahrain-based Investcorp Bank is close to finalising the sale of a retail mall in the US, according to a senior company executive, according to local reports.

The mall is part of a mixed-use development project located in Bellevue, Washington, that Investcorp invested in five years ago. The company sold the office buildings, also part of the project, in September 2010.

“Now we are in the midst of selling the retail mall; that retail mall is the most upscale mall in the whole Washington state, we are close to finalising the sale, we are close to exiting it within a week,” Investcorp’s managing director Harsh Shethia told Zawya Dow Jones on the sidelines of a Dubai event.

Shethia declined to give the value of the sale transaction, but said that the money made by the firm would go directly to its clients.

Investcorp acts as a bridge between surplus funds in the Gulf and non-traditional investment opportunities in the US and Western Europe. Its client assets under management stood at $8.7 billion at the end of December 2011.

Investcorp’s real estate group entered into a joint venture in 2007 with Schnitzer West, a Seattle area real estate development group, to develop a 1.6 million square foot office, retail and residential project in Bellevue, Washington, outside Seattle. The total value of the transaction exceeded $800 million.

The bank reported a 90 per cent drop in half-year profits on February 13 this year, hit by declining hedge fund revenues.

Investcorp, which once floated luxury brands Gucci and Tiffany & Co, said net profit was $5.3 million for the half-year ended Dec. 30, compared to $56.2 million in the prior-year period.