Bahrain-based Investcorp has agreed to pay £222 million ($269 million) for the debt management business of 3i, reputed to be the UK’s oldest private equity firm.
The transaction will roughly double Investcorp’s assets under management to $23 billion. Subject to regulatory approvals, the deal is expected to close in the first half of next year.
Investcorp says Jeremy Ghose will stay on as chief executive overseeing the 50-strong team of 3i Debt Management while John Fraser will continue to oversee the unit’s US operations.
Mohammed Al Ardhi, executive chairman of Investcorp, hailed the agreement as a “milestone deal”.
“The combination brings with it some of the most talented credit investment professionals in the industry together with a large universe of private and institutional clients spanning Europe, Asia, the US and the Arabian Gulf,” he said.
Originally called the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation, 3i was founded in 1945 by the Bank of England and the major British banks to provide funding for small and medium-sized companies. It was renamed 3i Group when it became a public company in 1987.
Investcorp says the purchase, its largest to date, will be funded from the firm’s balance sheet and will not require additional debt.
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