Nemir Kirdar

Nemir Amin Kirdar[1] (28 October 1936[2] – 8 June 2020) was an Iraqi banker, billionaire, businessman, financier and author.

As a founding father of private equity, and an economic and cultural bridge-builder, he was the founder and CEO of Investcorp, a global alternative investment group that operates in Manama, New York, London, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Doha, and Singapore.

In 1969, he was wrongfully jailed after a misunderstanding over his involvement with a U.S. company he represented, and left Iraq permanently, returning to the United States.

After settling in New York, Kirdar returned to the banking industry and earned an MBA at Fordham University's night school.

Having worked in the Middle East and seeing the potential for growth in the region, in 1982, he founded Investcorp, a firm specializing in global alternative investments including private equity, hedge funds, real estate, technology investments and capital growth in the GCC region.

Nemir Kirdar meets David Rockefeller during a visit to Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, 1976
Kirdar with Investcorp's first board of directors in 1982, shortly after the firm's founding
Kirdar at the 49th Munich Security Conference, 2013