TA Associates to buy Jupiter

TA Associates, the US private equity firm, has emerged as the frontrunner in the £680m (€992m) management buyout of Jupiter Asset Management from Commerzbank, after Candover, a London-based rival, backed away from the deal.

Candover is understood to have pulled out of talks after failing to agree terms with Jupiter’s management led by Edward Bonham Carter, joint chief executive.

TA Associates is now believed to be in exclusive talks with the management team and an announcement outlining an agreement could be made by the end of the week, with a view to completing the MBO by July.

Commerzbank has been keen to spin off the business for almost a year. Lexicon Partners is advising Jupiter.

TA Associates hired two senior executives last year to help spearhead its growth in Europe. Christopher Parkin and Christian Gruenwald both joined as London-based vice-presidents.

Both men were brought in to focus on growth equity capital, leveraged recapitalisations and management buyouts. Prior to this move, Parkin focused on middle market investments in Western Europe for Lazard. Before that he was a manager at Bain’s Private Equity Group in London and New York.

Gruenwald joined from General Atlantic Partners in Duesseldorf. Prior to that, he was an associate at McKinsey & Company in Zurich and a senior consultant at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in Munich and Madrid.

TA’s previous European investments include Drive Assist UK, GlobeOp Financial Services, IntercontinentalExchange, ION Trading Group and Sophos, and at the end of March last year it bought eSecLending from UK-listed insurer Old Mutual. The firm opened its London office in 2003 and last March closed its latest buyout fund at US$3.5bn (€2.7bn) with a subordinated debt fund alongside

TA Associates was founded in 1968, manages US$6bn (€4.5bn) in capital and has invested in more than 350 companies.