Private equity professionals at last week’s
Panel discussions however suggest that financial sponsors have not yet been able to take advantage of the downturn. They are hampered by a lack of debt, which remains the major impediment to deal flow, but also by a lack of forced sellers, which means equity valuations have not (yet) fallen to a level where sponsors are active buyers.
That dearth of debt in particular means sponsors continue to explore alternatives to leveraged investing.
Ahold will retain a 20% stake in the €950m business, with CVC paying a cash consideration of just €185m for its stake and the balance of the consideration made up of 58 stores plus real estate.
In the US
Private equity sponsors are believed to be among those squaring up to bid for
While some of these bids could be for majority stakes or full control, in many cases sponsors are looking to make minority equity funded acquisitions in underperforming, undercapitalised banks with a view to making an unleveraged return on eventually rising equities.