Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Toronto, on Tuesday said it had agreed to buy Antares Capital, the U.S. sponsor-finance business of General Electric Co.'s GE Capital subsidiary.
The board, which oversees the assets of the C$264.4 billion ($212.4 billion) Canada Pension Plan, Ottawa, will own the private-equity lending business through its subsidiary, CPPIB Credit Investments, with Antares management.
The total value of the deal is $12 billion, the CPPIB and GE said in separate news releases. About $3.85 billion is CPPIB's equity commitment, and the remainder is debt being assumed by Antares, said Mei Mavin, CPPIB spokeswoman.
Antares will operate independent of CPP Credit and will retain its brand. Managing Partners David Brackett and John Martin will stay at Antares.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
Another $8.2 billion in two private equity loan joint ventures with GE Capital — its $7.6 billion senior secured loan program with Ares Management and its $600 million middle-market loan program with Lone Star Funds — will continue to operate prior to the CPPIB-GE closing to give the private equity firms and the pension fund manager “the opportunity to work together on a go-forward basis,” GE said in its news release. If no agreement is reached, GE Capital will execute an orderly wind-down of both programs.
