Nemir Kirdar

Nemir Amin Kirdar[1] (28 October 1936[2] – 8 June 2020) was an Iraqi Turkmen businessman and financier. He spent much of his life living in London, and held British citizenship.[3] As a founding father of private equity, and an economic and cultural bridge-builder, he founded Investcorp, a global alternative investment group that now operates out of Bahrain, New York, London, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Doha, and Singapore. Kirdar served as CEO for over 30 years until he stood down in 2015 to become Chairman until his retirement in 2017.[4] He died at the age of 83 in 2020.[5][6]

Nemir A. Kirdar
Born(1936-10-28)28 October 1936
Kirkuk, Iraq
Died8 June 2020(2020-06-08) (aged 83)
Cap d'Antibes, France
OccupationFounder, CEO and chairman of Investcorp
ChildrenRena Kirdar Sindi, Serra Kirdar

Career

Kirdar began his banking career in New York in 1969. He then worked in South East Asia and Japan for Allied Bank International. In 1974, he joined Chase Manhattan Bank in New York as vice president. Between 1976 and 1981, Kirdar worked in the Middle East overseeing and directing Chase's banking network 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.

Kirdar was the author of three books: Saving Iraq (2009), In Pursuit of Fulfilment (2012) and Need, Respect, Trust (2013).

Early life

Kirdar was born in Kirkuk, Iraq, to the influentual Turkmen Kirdar family who were prominent in the politics of the late Ottoman Empire and interwar Iraq. After a military coup overthrew the Iraqi monarchy in 1958, Kirdar fled Iraq to the United States to study. The much-reported story that he hid in a rolled-up carpet in the back of a truck[7] was untrue and invented by Nigel Dempster for a story in the Daily Mail in the early 2000s. Kirdar returned to Iraq in 1960 but soon after the Baathist coup, which produced the regime of Saddam Hussein, he left the country again.[8]

Kirdar graduated from the University of the Pacific in California with a degree in economics. He also held an MBA from Fordham University in New York, and completed Harvard Business School's senior management program.

Academic awards

Kirdar received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Fordham University of New York, Georgetown University in Washington DC; in laws from the University of the Pacific, California; and in economics from Richmond, The American International University in London.[9]

Kirdar was an honorary fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford; member of the United Nations Investments Committee, NYC; member of the board of trustees, Brookings Institution, Washington DC; member of the board of trustees, Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship, Philadelphia, PA; member of the advisory board, School of International & Public Affairs, Columbia University, NYC; founding member of the International Business Council, World Economic Forum, Geneva; member of the Chatham House panel of senior advisers, UK; member of the international council of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; member of the Council for Arab & International Relations, Kuwait; member of the board of trustees, Silatech, Doha, Qatar

Wealth

Kirdar was estimated to have a net worth of over one billion US dollars.[10] Kirdar ranked 206 in the British Rich List 2005.[7] He also ranked No. 26 on the world's most influential Arabs 2009 list.[9]

References
  1. Marquis (1990). Who's who in the World. ISBN 9780837911106.
  2. Kirdar, Nemir (13 September 2012). In Pursuit of Fulfilment: Principle Passion Resolve - Nemir Kirdar - Google Books. ISBN 9780297869511. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  3. "INEED, RESPECT, TRUST – The memoir of a vision by Nemir Kirdar". Investcorp. Retrieved 27 February 2019. Nemir Kirdar...now a British citizen, he was born in Iraq but left the country after the military coup of 1958.
  5. "Nemir Kirdar, father of private equity globally, dies at 83". thenational.ae. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  6. Reed, Stanley (18 June 2020). "Nemir Kirdar, Middle East Financier With Foot in the West, Dies at 83". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  7. The Sunday Times Rich List
  8. "The power hundred list 2007, 61# Nemir Kirdar". Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
  9. "The world's most influential Arabs 2009 list, 26# Nemir Kirdar". Archived from the original on 28 May 2009. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
  10. The Wall Street Journal: New Law Makes Escape Tougher For Tax Exiles

Further reading

Kirdar, Nemir (2013). Need, Respect, Trust: A Memoir. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 9780297868583.

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