Investcorp is primarily a conduit of Middle Eastern money into Western deals. It has a roster of some 300 core investors, primarily Arab, who participate in its deals. Headquartered in Bahrain, but with most of the action coming from its London and New York offices, Investcorp is headed by Nemir Kirdar, a Fordham University MBA who was born in Iraq and learned deal-making at Chase Manhattan in the late 1970s. Kirdar looks for companies that are basically sound but need additional capital. After holding on to an investment, say for 5 years, but hopefully less, Investcorp takes the company public or sells it through a private placement. It then pays off its investors, keeps its share, and looks for another deal. Investcorp is owned 37.5% by management, 15% by the original investors, and the rest is traded on the Bahrain stock exchange. With his access to polls of Middle Eastern cash, Kirdar can easily swing big deals. He wrote a $1.6 billion check to buy Saks Fifth Avenue.