Vision Capital acquires L&G Ventures portfolio

Secondaries direct specialist Vision Capital has acquired a portfolio of seven companies from Legal & General Ventures for an undisclosed sum. Completion of the transaction will be subject to clearance from competition authorities and relevant consents.

The transaction serves as an exit solution for the maturer assets within the L&G Ventures portfolio.

Vision Capital will acquire LGV’s interests in seven companies including Trident Components Group, a European manufacture of automotive components; Coal Products Limited, a UK manufacturer of smokeless fuels; and TM Group, an independent chain of convenience stores comprising Forbuoys, RS McColls, More, Dillons and Martins. The portfolio also includes interests in IPT, Interdean, Unipoly and Aluset.

The portfolio is being acquired by new a Vision Capital investment partnership with a total of €120m of committed capital. The funds include a provision for follow-on capital to be made available to the underlying companies. Investors in the new partnership include funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Landmark Partners and Paul Capital Partners.

Vision Capital, with Goldman Sachs Asset Management, is one of the pioneers of acquiring direct portfolios from private equity firms and their investors. Although a relatively recent innovation, the sale of portfolios, rather than individual companies, offers private equity investors a strategic and comprehensive exit route for their more mature investments.

Adrian Johnson, chief executive of Legal & General Ventures, said: “This transaction has removed an area of complexity from the historic LGV portfolio, allowing us to completely focus on the UK sectors of leisure, consumer and services. We are delighted to have realised value, in the case of TCG, where two years ago there appeared to be none.”

Previous landmark transactions for Vision Capital include the acquisitions of portfolios from CS Structured Credit Fund in 2004, and from Morgan Grenfell Private Equity in 2003.