BC completes second US investment, agrees Foxtons recap

BC Partners is continuing to make inroads into the US, having completed the acquisition of Texas-based education provider ATI Enterprises from a consortium private equity backers comprising The Riverside Company and Primus Capital.

Financial details were not disclosed, but when the deal was first agreed in November 2009, media reports pegged the value at around $500 million.
 
For Riverside, a Cleveland-based private equity firm focused on growth investments, the sale represents its 50th exit. It invested in ATI, alongside Primus Capital, in 2004.
 
London-headquartered BC Partners has been long-established in Europe but has only recently began investing in the US. From an office in New York the firm made its maiden US investment in June last year, injecting $350 million into NYSE-listed stationary retailer Office Depot.
 
In related news, BC portfolio company Foxtons – a high profile London estate agent – has agreed a “consensual capital reorganisation” with its banks and shareholders that delivers a “sound balance sheet”, the firm said in a statement last week, without giving further details.
 
BC Partners acquired Foxtons Group, which consists of estate agency Foxtons and mortgage broker Alexander Hill, for around £400 million in June 2007, shortly before the sub-prime crisis slowed the UK property market to a near standstill.
 
“We continue to face the future with considerable confidence,” said Foxtons chief executive Michael Brown.
 
BC Partners did not respond to requests for comment.