IFM acquires stake in Splend | Goldies ECM head resigns | Realm’s $300m debt LIT

Good evening,

Car leasing is shaping up as the next battleground for private equity dealmakers.

Street Talk can reveal just as Pacific Equity Partners dealmakers get cracking on their take-private of the $1.2 billion SG Fleet, IFM Investors’ private equity team has dug up a smaller rival it reckons is primed for explosive growth.

IFM Investors’ Growth Partners 2 is understood to have agreed terms to acquire a 49 per cent stake in Splend Group, a one-stop financier for Uber drivers which is swelling its topline at 60 per cent a year and is on track to hit 10,000 cars by the end of the year.

The deal, negotiated over the Christmas holidays, would see IFM and a handful of co-investors, including the $90 billion industry super fund HESTA, buy out Splend’s early backers – Acorn Capital, Investec and Ord Minnett – at a circa $200 million valuation. Splend founder and CEO Chris King, a Young Rich List debutant from 2018, will retain about 40 per cent ownership alongside his family.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

A day after MA Financial launched a $300 million raise for its credit income trust, Street Talk can reveal rival manager Realm Investment House is ready to go to investors with its first-of-its-kind offering.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.