Coller Capital, a leading player in private equity secondary opportunities is buying a portfolio of 40 private equity investments in the Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance (BOSIF) business from Lloyds Banking Group plc. The private equity portfolios are being sold to a new joint venture called Cavendish Square Partners LLP – a new joint venture will be majority owned (approximately 70%) by transactions, with Lloyds Banking Group owning a stake of approximately 30%.
The total cash consideration for Coller Capital’s majority stake is £332 million. This values the portfolio at approximately £480 million, which is a small premium to current book value. The Group held a competitive tender process before selecting Coller as its preferred bidder. The companies in the portfolio are UK headquartered trading businesses across a range of industry sectors.
Coller Capital has decided to retain the existing BOSIF management team.
The transaction is subject to certain conditions including regulatory approval, certain anti-trust approvals, the transfer of the underlying investments to the joint venture transfer of the existing BOSIF management team to a newly formed management vehicle. It is expected to complete in the third quarter of 2010.
Coller Capital has exposure to many secondary private equity transactions in India. It had in 2006 taken over about $40 million of a $240 million private equity fund managed by India's ICICI as investors wanted to realize some of the gains on their investments.