PAI in move to shrink 5.4bn buyout fund
PAI PARTNERS, mainland Europe’s biggest private equity group, has offered to let its investors halve their commitments to a €5.4bn (£3.3bn) buyout fund as it seeks to resolve a row over its future.
The Paris-based group, whose two top executives quit last month, made the non-binding offer on its most recent fund in a letter to investors.
The move reflects a shrinking private equity market and follows agreements to cut investor commitments by rivals Permira and TPG in recent months as funding patterns for mergers and acquisitions have changed.
PAI’s fund V has invested about one fifth of investors, money, and a 50 per cent reduction in undrawn commitments would cut the overall fund to about €3.2bn.
PAI, whose investments include stakes in Spanish retailer Cortefiel and French IT group Atos Origen, will hold more meetings with investors before posting a binding offer on which a vote will be held after six weeks.
PAI’s chief executive Dominique Megret and his right-hand man Bertrand Meunier announced their departures in August after a dispute with the firm’s other partners. PAI was not available for comment.