ING Group and Baring Private Equity Partners Reach Agreement in Principle on Management Buyout.Business Editors LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 21, 2003 Baring Private Equity Partners (BPEP BPEP Baring Private Equity Partners BPEP Basic and Primary Education Programme (Nepal) ) today announced that an agreement in principle has been reached with the Executive Board of ING Group ING Groep N.V. (NYSE: ING, Euronext: INGA) (known as ING Group) is a financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, insurance and asset management services. ING once stood for Internationale Nederlanden Groep. for the management-led buyout Buyout The purchase of a company or a controlling interest of a corporation's shares. Notes: A leveraged buyout is accomplished with borrowed money or by issuing more stock. (MBO MBO See: Management buyout ) of BPEP. The MBO is of the entire BPEP group with the participation and full support of each of the senior partners of the firm. Under the terms of the agreement, ING Group will retain its existing investments in BPEP funds but will not participate in any new fund raisings. At present, ING Group's capital commitments of USD USD In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the U.S. Dollar. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 360 million represent approximately 18% of BPEP's total assets under management Assets Under Management (AUM) is a term used by financial services companies in the mutual fund and money management or investment management business to gauge how much money they are managing. of USD 2 billion. The buyout will enable BPEP to continue to grow the successful international private equity business it has built over the past 19 years with the same entrepreneurial spirit that has always characterized char·ac·ter·ize tr.v. character·ized, character·iz·ing, character·iz·es 1. To describe the qualities or peculiarities of: characterized the warden as ruthless. 2. the firm. The move by BPEP to secure its independence represents the latest in a series of recent high-profile transactions that has seen private equity captives and semi-captives negotiate exits from their parent companies. This trend, already well established in the U.S., reflects the natural maturing of the growing private equity market in Europe. Commenting on the announcement today, Chris Brotchie, Chief Executive of BPEP, said: "We are excited about the opportunity this transaction affords both the investors and owner-managers of BPEP to benefit from the positive long-term future we see for the international private equity markets. ING has supported us throughout this endeavour and, as a measure of its confidence, will retain its USD 360 million of commitments in our funds. The buyout demonstrates the confidence we all have in the future of our business and reaffirms our strong commitment to the interests of all our investors." Alexander Rinnooy Kan, Executive Board Member of ING Group, said, "We are pleased to have reached an agreement in principle with Baring Private Equity Partners. While we still regard private equity as an attractive asset class, this agreement is in line with ING's strategy to focus on our core businesses." With offices in 17 countries around the globe, BPEP has one of the most extensive on-the-ground networks of any international private equity provider. Its business is divided up into six principal investment regions: Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. , Western Europe Western Europe The countries of western Europe, especially those that are allied with the United States and Canada in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (established 1949 and usually known as NATO). , Central & Eastern Europe Eastern Europe The countries of eastern Europe, especially those that were allied with the USSR in the Warsaw Pact, which was established in 1955 and dissolved in 1991. , India, Asia and Russia. It supports companies at each stage of their development with a particularly strong track record of providing growth capital for mid-market sized companies. The agreement is subject to regulatory approvals. ING Group and BPEP expect the completion of the transaction by year-end. The value of the transaction will not be disclosed. Notes to Editors Founded in 1984, Baring Private Equity Partners is a leading international private equity asset manager. The firm invests in every major market outside of the USA via six regional fund groups with dedicated local investment teams in Western and Central Europe Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. In addition, Northern, Southern and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe. , Asia, India, Latin America and Russia. With a balanced team of 65 investment professionals operating out of 21 offices in 17 different countries worldwide, Baring Private Equity Partners has one of the most extensive on-the-ground networks of any international private equity provider. Its superior global reach provides the resources and investment expertise to help entrepreneurs around the world build world-class businesses. Baring Private Equity Partners has invested a total of Euro 1.6 billion in a portfolio of 237 companies in 34 countries around the world. 82 of these companies have been exited, returning more than Euro 600 million to investors. In 2002, despite the global downturn in private equity investment, BPEP reported its best year on record for exits by successfully executing 17 divestments (in 15 companies), at attractive multiples, resulting in total returns of Euro 181 million. |
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