Neither representatives of Investcorp nor Ray Finch, managing partner of Emerald Dunes Golf, would disclose the price of the acquisition. Finch cited a confidentiality agreement with the buyer. He confirms an Investcorp's spokesman's report that the course encompasses about 120 acres and says, "the sale also involved a hotel site and development parcels."

Tom Fazio, a 35-year veteran of golf-course architecture, designed the 18-hole course, which opened in 1990. It's ranked among the top 10 daily-fee courses in the US and the number one public course in Florida. The new ownership "intends to convert the highly ranked public golf course into a prestigious, first-class, private golf club that offers memberships at market competitive prices," according to a statement from John Fraser, an Investcorp managing partner.

Finch will remain at Emerald Dunes through the transition and says its conversion to a membership club will take place Sept. 1. The members' initiation fee, he says, "is $85,000," and tells GlobeSt.com that fees at comparable golf clubs in the area reach to $300,000 or more.

"Emerald Dunes represented a compelling opportunity to invest in and reposition an extremely well regarded, existing Fazio-designed golf course with first-tier management and financial partners," Fraser says. He predicts the asset "will be at the forefront of the Palm Beach golf market." MCH Golf will oversee daily management and operation of the facility.

This is Investcorp's first acquisition this year. Its 2004 acquisitions totaled more than $780 million. The New York investment team of the company, which has additional headquarters in Bahrain and London, handled the Emerald Dunes transaction. RFR is a privately owned development firm based in New York.