TD Capital leaves Europe

TD Capital Communications Partners, the media and communications private equity arm of Canada’s Toronto Dominion bank, has closed its London office a year after making its first investment. Managing director Jose Brea led a team of eight people, which is in the process of being wound up. A spokesman for TD said: “The European telecoms sector was not as robust as anticipated and in the light of the slow down the selection of telecoms-related investments was not as strong as hoped.” TD Capital has no other private equity activities in Europe.

The Communications Partners group was formed in 1995 in New York and a team of 20 will continue to manage the European portfolio of investments from there. Of the four European investments, two have been written off. The New York team will focus on US investments in the telecoms sector.

TD Capital Communications Partners made its first investment, in UK cable company EON Communications, a year ago. It invested alongside Madison Dearborn Partners, Bank of Scotland and TD Securities in a round totalling GBP265 million of debt and equity. The company, renamed Omne Communications, went into administration at the beginning of May and is looking for new funds to continue. The group’s investment banking division has also made losses on its telecom commitments, at the end of April TD Securities made a write-down of GBP115 million mostly against its European telecoms portfolio.