Advent to win Lloyds TSB Registrars

Private equity investor Advent International is close to securing shareholder services provider Lloyds TSB Registrars. The UK bank said earlier this year that it wanted to divest its non-core businesses.

According to a report, Advent has won the battle by offering £550m (US$1.1bn). Lehman Brothers advised the bank on the sale. However, Advent itself refused to comment on this report.

Australian company Link Market Services was also interested in the business but withdrew from the auction last month. Link Market Services is owned by Pacific Equity Partners and was bidding in tandem with Bain Capital.

Others reputedly keen on submitting bids included another private equity group, Silverlake, as well as several strategic buyers, including HBOS’s Employee Share Services, Capita Registrars and Computershare.

HBOS is the second largest registrar in the UK, looking after the share save schemes of more than 350 companies. It bought Jersey-based operator Mourant last year. Lloyds TSB Registrars provides share registration services to an estimated 60% of FTSE 100 companies.

Overall, the business acts for 800 companies, sending shareholders dividends and share certificates as well as documentation concerning possible takeovers and other corporate action. This involves looking after 24 million individual accounts for private investors.

Chris Spink