Bahrain-based Investcorp has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Arvento Mobile Systems, a Turkish firm that specialises in vehicle tracking systems, the alternative investment firm said on Tuesday.

The founders of the business will retain their holdings as minority shareholders and will also remain as part of the management team in the roles of chief executive officer and chief technology officer.

Established in 2005, Arvento is a provider of telematics solutions, delivered as a software-as-a-service, which provide fleet operators with visibility into vehicle location, fuel usage, speed and mileage and other insights into their mobile workforce, enabling them to reduce their operating costs and increase their revenues.

Arvento is the fourth acquisition Investcorp has made in Turkey.  Other portfolio companies include: Namet, the leading Turkish producer of fresh cut and packaged processed red meat products; Orka Group, the leading luxury branded menswear retailer; and Tiryaki Agro, the leading trader and supply chain manager of agro commodities in Turkey.

Mohammed Al Shroogi, Investcorp’s president of Gulf Business, said: “Arvento is a perfect fit for Investcorp’s portfolio of corporate investments.  It is the second telematics business to have been acquired by Investcorp after FleetMatics, a business that we invested in 2008 and that has rapidly expanded under our ownership, eventually leading to a successful IPO on the NYSE in 2012.”

“We see a lot of opportunity for Arvento as we bring our successful FleetMatics experience, capital and operational knowledge to the team to help the business diversify its offer and expand into new markets.  We look forward to creating a world-leading telematics business with Arvento’s dynamic, founding partners.”

Ozer Hincal, co-founder and CEO of Arvento, said: “This is a great opportunity for the business.  Investcorp’s backing, support and knowledge of the telematics sector will mean that we will be able to scale the business far more rapidly.  The overall market is growing at around 20 per cent a year, so we believe the new team will be able to capture a growing share of the expanding opportunity of this market.  We are looking forward to the next chapter in Arvento’s successful growth.”

Tristan de Boysson, managing director, Investcorp Corporate Investment Mena, said: “The three founding shareholders of Arvento, Ozer Hincal, Bora Yasar Erkan and Ejder Varol, can be proud to have created Turkey’s leading telematics business that we believe is ideally positioned for significant further growth in the rapidly developing telematics and M2M market, in Turkey and internationally.” – TradeArabia News Service