EQT snaps up Baring Private Equity in $7.5bn deal

EQT, the $80.1bn Stockholm-based private markets investment firm, will acquire Baring Private Equity Asia for €6.8bn.

The addition of BPEA’s eight Asia-Pacific offices and €17.7bn in assets under management will go a long way toward achieving EQT’s strategic objective of expanding its footprint in the region, according to an EQT news release. Baring Private Equity Asia is based in Hong Kong.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

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EQT, which listed its shares in Stockholm in late 2019, will purchase BPEA with €1.5 billion in cash and issue 191.2 new ordinary EQT shares, valued at €5.3 billion, to cover the remaining consideration.

The growth of private markets in Asia, at an annualized 24% since 2015, continues to outpace the 14% pace seen in Europe and North America combined, the news release noted.

Following the transaction, EQT will create the divisions BPEA EQT Asia — the combination of the BPEA private equity and EQT Asia-Pacific private equity teams — and EQT Private Capital Europe and North America, the news release said.

Source: Pensions & Investments

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