Personal fairness (PE) buyouts are intricate monetary maneuvers, typically shrouded in complexity. By using tiered acquisition constructions and strategic autos, PE buyers can unlock worth whereas safeguarding investments. This text explores the nuances of those frameworks, from the position of acquisition autos to jurisdictional intricacies and the rise of offshore registrations. It’s the first in a three-part sequence.
When PE buyers purchase firms in a buyout, they sometimes use newly fashioned acquisition autos to take action, reasonably than straight buying the working firms. These autos –- additionally known as holding firms, or particular goal autos (SPVs) — are created for the aim of the buyout and haven’t traded previous to the transaction closing.
The variety of acquisition autos that are created can differ and can depend upon the complexity of the construction of the buyout and the jurisdictions concerned. Determine 1 exhibits what a typical three-tiered acquisition construction could appear like.
Determine 1: Tiered acquisition construction
On this instance, Topco, Midco, and Bidco are autos that are created to facilitate the buyout of the working firm. A PE fund, fairly often alongside the goal agency’s administration staff, make investments into the newly created Topco acquisition car. This car lends the cash into the Midco car, which borrows some quantity of debt — sometimes shareholder debt from the PE fund or junior debt from an exterior supplier — and lends this, plus the cash from the Topco car, into the Bidco car. Lastly, the Bidco car borrows some quantity of exterior senior debt and makes use of its complete amount of cash to purchase out all debtholders and shareholders of the working firm.[1]
By this tiered construction, as a result of the senior lender lends to the Bidco car and to not the Topco car, the senior lender has direct rights towards the entity which owns the working firm, and subsequently the belongings of the goal group. This construction ensures that the senior lender’s debt shouldn’t be structurally subordinated to junior debtholders and fairness holders. It provides the senior lender prior declare to the underlying belongings of the goal firm. Exterior senior debt suppliers in buyouts, corresponding to banks, will typically favor this structural subordination.
The variety of totally different securities that are issued to finance the transaction and the complexity of the buyout are each necessary components when forming a buyout construction. For instance, in buy-and-build offers, the place PE buyers purchase one platform firm after which bolt-on different targets to the platform, these acquisition constructions can turn out to be extra complicated.
Variations in jurisdictions additionally play an necessary position in figuring out the transaction construction. For instance, within the US Chapter 11 chapter legal guidelines provide robust safety for junior lenders, so inter-creditor agreements and contractual provisions could suffice. The robust protections additionally imply there’s much less want for the creation of tiered acquisition autos as there could also be in the UK or European jurisdictions.
Certainly, there could solely be two autos in a US buyout construction: one for fairness holders and one other for all debtholders. All debt devices used to finance the transaction could also be loaned right into a single entity, the place there are contractual provisions and inter-creditor preparations that obtain the required structural subordination, in the identical approach that UK and European buyouts do by way of the layering of various acquisition autos. However, extra complicated US buyouts and multi-jurisdictional transactions could contain extra elaborate constructions.
Additionally it is price understanding the registration of acquisition autos in offshore jurisdictions – a preferred observe in the UK in recent times, pushed largely to keep away from withholding tax.[2] Many PE buyers buying UK firms – whether or not they’re primarily based in the UK, the USA, or elsewhere — have created acquisition autos registered in offshore jurisdictions. In style offshore jurisdictions embody the Channel Islands, Luxembourg, and the Cayman Islands. Other than tax-related causes, registering these entities offshore may additionally present PE acquirers with larger flexibility in receiving dividends from their portfolio firms. For instance, distributions underneath Jersey or Guernsey regulation (within the Channel Islands) might be made with out requiring distributable earnings to be accessible.
In a latest analysis paper, I doc a substantial rise in the usage of offshore autos in buyout transactions in the UK. In 2000, solely 5% of buyouts concerned an offshore final holding entity, in comparison with greater than 25% of offers in 2022 (see Determine 2). It seems to be significantly widespread in bigger buyout transactions and in buyouts involving PE companies who’re headquartered abroad. Provided that when the final word holding entity is registered offshore its monetary accounts usually are not publicly accessible (not like when the entity is registered in the UK), this highlights an necessary decline within the transparency of PE buyouts in the UK over the past twenty years.
Determine 2.
Key Takeaways:
Acquisition Automobiles as Important Instruments: Personal fairness buyouts generally depend on tiered acquisition constructions, with autos like Topco, Midco, and Bidco taking part in vital roles in managing investments and money owed.
Structural Subordination Advantages: The layered construction ensures that senior debt suppliers retain precedence over junior lenders and fairness holders, safeguarding their claims towards the working firm’s belongings.
Jurisdictional Variations Matter: Variations in legal guidelines, corresponding to Chapter 11 chapter protections in the USA, affect the complexity of acquisition constructions. Stronger chapter legal guidelines could cut back the necessity for a number of autos.
Offshore Flexibility: Registering acquisition autos in offshore jurisdictions just like the Channel Islands or Luxembourg presents tax benefits and operational flexibility, significantly for dividend distributions. This has turn out to be an more and more common observe in the UK in recent times.
Complexity Grows with Technique: Purchase-and-build offers and multi-jurisdictional transactions add layers of complexity, making structuring essential for efficient administration and threat mitigation.
By understanding these components, stakeholders can navigate the intricate world of personal fairness buyouts with confidence and precision.
In my subsequent submit, I’ll cowl the consolidation of PE firm portfolio accounts.
[1] These acquisition autos might be referred to as something. Topco, Midco, and Bidco have historically been widespread in the UK and are used right here for illustrative functions.
[2] This doesn’t apply to home US transactions.
