Doughty Hanson Refinancing $904M in Debt

Private equity firm Doughty Hanson is refinancing 635 million euros ($904 million) in debt that that it used to buy offshore fund administration firms Equity Trust and TMF Group, Reuters reported. Bank of Ireland, HSBC and Unicredit are expected to lead a leveraged loan refinancing. The new financing will provide a single debt structure for the two financial management businesses, Reuters wrote.

(Reuters) – Private equity firm Doughty Hanson [DOUHA.UL] is refinancing 635 million euros of debt that it used to buy offshore fund administration firms Equity Trust and TMF Group, banking sources said on Friday.

Bank of Ireland (BKIR.I), HSBC (HSBA.L), ING (ING.AS) and Unicredit (CRDI.MI) are expected to be mandated to lead a leveraged loan refinancing shortly.

Doughty created the world’s biggest offshore fund administration group when it bought Equity Trust in September 2010 and merged it with TMF, a Dutch business that it already owned.

The new financing will provide a single debt structure for the two financial management businesses.

Doughty Hanson was not immediately available for comment.

The loan will have an all-senior structure and include a term loan B of approximately 450 million euros. It will also include a term loan A and revolving credit facility, sources said.

Doughty will not pay itself a dividend from the refinancing and will maintain its original equity contribution of more than 50 percent in the new capital structure, the sources said.

MERGING BUSINESSES

Doughty bought Equity Trust in September 2010 for 350 million euros, backed by around 180 million euros of senior debt, the sources said.

Equity Trust had taken over the trust operations of Standard Chartered Bank in 2004 and the global trust and fiduciary business of ABN Amro Bank in 2005. In 2006,it acquired Ernst & Young’s domiciliation and related corporate secretarial services in Luxembourg.

Doughty Hanson bought TMF Group, which provides accounting and corporate secretarial services, in July 2008 for 750 million euros, backed by a 445 million euro leveraged loan.

TMF Group’s service offering is almost identical to Equity Trust, with the addition of HR administrative services, VAT & IPT services, IP licensing and collection.

(Reporting by Claire Ruckin and Isabell Witt. Editing by Jane Merriman)