Reuters – PE Firms Vie for Intertrust

(Reuters) – Three private equity firms are left in the running for Dutch trust and corporate management business Intertrust Group after Carlyle and Goldman Sachs Private Equity dropped out, banking sources said on Wednesday.

Blackstone, Cinven and Pamplona are preparing to submit second round bids on Nov. 7 for Intertrust, the banking sources said. The firm is being sold in an auction process by private equity company Waterland.

The buyout has attracted a lot of interest from banks all vying to finance the deal after disappointing levels of leveraged buyout activity so far this year, bankers say.

Blackstone and Cinven had both separately considered teaming up with HG Capital, which owns Intertrust’s Amsterdam-based rival ATC, in a bid to merge ATC with Intertrust. But this did not materialise, so Blackstone and Cinven are submitting bids on a standalone basis, three of the sources said.

Carlyle, Cinven, Blackstone and Pamplona declined to comment and Goldman Sachs Private Equity was not immediately available for comment.

The auction process is being run by ING and bids submitted on Nov. 7 are due to have committed financing in place from banks to back the buyout. It is unlikely to be the final round of bids as more due diligence needs to be done on the company, some of the banking sources said.

It will be backed by 400 million to 500 million euros of debt provided either all through senior leveraged loans or through a combination of senior leveraged loans and mezzanine loans, depending on which buyout house is successful.

Waterland bought Intertrust in September 2009, backed by around 140 million euros of debt. It acquired Walkers Management Services (WMS) earlier this year, at which point the company refinanced its debts and got an additional acquisition loan, bringing Intertrust’s total debt to 250 million euros.

Founded in 1952, Intertrust has more than 1,000 employees in over 20 countries worldwide. Its core business is to set up and manage holding companies, Waterland said on its website.

(Reporting by Claire Ruckin and Simon Meads; Additional reporting by Isabell Witt; Editing by Charlotte Cooper)

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