Kirkland & Ellis, Travers Smith and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have all won roles advising as private equity firm GTCR agrees to sell British financial services company Premium Credit Limited (PCL) to buyout group Cinven for £462m.
US firm Kirkland won the role acting for GTCR and the other sellers, with corporate partners Gavin Gordon and Stephen Ritchie leading the team alongside capital markets partner William Burke and tax partners Ian Taplin, Oliver Currall, William Welke and Mike Carew.
Travers Smith senior partner Chris Hale and tax partner Russell Warren advised the company’s management while Freshfields’ corporate partner Adrian Maguire led the team representing Cinven.
The acquisition comes as Cinven builds a portfolio of specialty finance companies. ‘The acquisition of PCL is a further sign of increased activity of the key private equity players in the financial services sector,’ said Travers Smith in a statement. Kirkland’s Gordon added: ‘We were delighted to help GTCR on the complex acquisition and disposal of Premium Credit.’
The sale comes after Chicago-based GTCR brought PCL from MBNA Europe – a subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation – in 2012. The business has experienced a significant transformation since then including a establishing a standalone asset-backed funding facility with seven leading banks, and completing the carve-out from Bank of America.
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
