Vision Capital syndicates CS portfolio

Vision Capital, the London-based firm which specialises in secondary direct portfolio transactions, has syndicated its €149m Vision Capital Partners IV Fund, which was set up to hold most of the former CS Structured Credit Fund portfolio.

Vision Capital bought five investments in February 2004 in a synthetic secondary with Goldman Sachs Vintage Funds and funds managed by Landmark Partners as investors. These remain the largest investors and are joined by Paul Capital Partners, Unigestion, AIG Retirement Services, the Broad Foundation and an unnamed organisation, all of which have bought minority stakes.

The investments comprise controlling stakes in Avebury Taverns, which owns over 700 UK tenanted pubs, and the Elegant Hotels Group, which has a chain of five luxury hotels in Barbados. The fund also has minority interests in Cabot Financial, an under-performing consumer debt purchaser; RoadChef, a UK motorway service provider, and Resource Partners Group, a finance company for providers of services to the UK public sector.

In February 2003, Vision Capital acquired a portfolio of companies from Morgan Grenfell Equity Partners funds (MGEP) for an undisclosed sum. The portfolio represented the majority of the investments held by MGEP and included interests in Deloro Stellite Group Limited, Abrasive Technologies Holding AG, AB Cerbo Group and Shearings Group Limited. The transaction represented one of the first synthetic secondary portfolio transactions to be completed in Europe.