JP Morgan private equity buys up £56.5m portfolio
JP MORGAN’s private equity division bought a portfolio of mid-market investment assets from the suspended Arch Cru funds for $91.9m (£56.5m) yesterday.
The package of 38 mid-market co-invested companies are being bought from three of the fund cells now run by Spearpoint, the fund manager appointed to take charge of the funds after their suspension in 2009.
The portfolio is primarily invested in UK, Germany and France-based companies. The deal is to be paid for entirely in JP Morgan shares.
“Many of the funds are still in their investment period, with an average age of 3.6 years, and unfunded commitments are estimated to be £6.9m,” said Numis analyst Charles Cade.
The deal is expected to speed up the return of Arch Cru cash to approximately 20,000 shareholders, who were locked into losses when the funds were suspended due to more withdrawals than they could meet.