HgCapital lowers stake in Parc

HgCapital, formerly Mercury Private Equity, has sold the majority of its stake in Irish specialist recruitment company, Parc Group, in a management buyout transaction that values the company at around E49 million. Under the terms of the agreement, Parc directors, management and staff will own approximately 74 per cent of the restructured entity; HgCapital will hold around 24 per cent and warrant holders two per cent. Senior debt was provided by Ulster Bank Business & Corporate Banking and mezzanine finance came from AIB Capital Markets.

HgCapital originally held a 48 per cent stake in the company.

Parc specialises in staffing solutions for the aviation, engineering, IT and telecoms sectors and is a leading provider of contract airline pilots.

HgCapital provided just over GBP6.5 million financial backing for the management buyout of the Parc Group from Aer Lingus in 1995. Since the 1995 buyout, Parc’s turnover from continuing operations has grown substantially, increasing from IGBP36.5 million in the year to March 1995 to IGBP93.3 million in March 2000.

The buyout of HgCapital’s existing stake in Parc Group represents a new phase in the development of the company and presents a great opportunity for management and staff at a time when so many recruitment companies have been experiencing difficulties, said Peter Keenan, chief executive of Parc Group.

“Parc’s success in this environment has been achieved through a focused implementation of our strategy of having a geographical and sectoral spread of business and through consistent delivery of high quality personnel solutions,” he said.