Reuters: Cinven Seeks Debt to Refinance Host Europe Buy – Bankers

Private equity firm Cinven has approached banks for debt to help refinance its 438 million pound ($671 million) buyout of internet domain and hosting company Host Europe Group, sources told Reuters.

LONDON (Reuters) – Private equity firm Cinven has approached banks for debt to help refinance its 438 million pound ($671 million) buyout of internet domain and hosting company Host Europe Group, banking sources said.

Cinven agreed to acquire Host Europe from Montagu Private Equity earlier this month, funding the acquisition with all equity and planning to refinance with debt once the buyout was complete.

Cinven has now approached a number of banks asking them to submit debt proposals, bankers said.

Cinven declined to comment.

The bankers said there was an appetite to do the deal given the lack of M&A business so far this year.

The final debt to equity split is undecided but bankers expected it to be around 40 percent equity and 60 percent debt.

Debt packages are likely to total around 250 million pounds which could be made up of a mixture of senior leveraged loans and subordinated debt, bankers said.

Cinven paid roughly double the 222 million pounds Montagu paid for the company in October 2010.

Host, whose sales have grown by more than 60 percent since then, has around 1.5 million retail and wholesale customers, and a big position in Europe’s two largest markets, the UK and Germany.

On the sale, Montagu was advised by UBS and Cinven by Oakley Capital Corporate Finance and Morgan Stanley.