-- Private equity firms are turning to a new weapon to help them get their buyouts over the line: less-than-conventional funding.
HPS Investment Partners provided $600 million of preferred equity, which sits below other debt in the queue for repayment, to support GTCR’s recent purchase of a majority stake in Worldpay Inc., according to people close to the matter who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The funding came on top of a $9.4 billion debt package backing the deal.
In Australia, Ares Management Corp. led a group of lenders financing TPG Inc.’s acquisition of funeral-home operator InvoCare Ltd. The A$800 million of debt included a small PIK feature, according to a previous Bloomberg News report.Junior financing is becoming popular, too, for specialist lenders attracted by returns that can run as high as 15% or so.
PIK debt typically pays about 125-150 basis points above senior debt and preferred equity pays around the mid-teens on average, according to several bankers. For buyout firms, that may be a price worth paying if it lets a deal go ahead in a moribund M&A market.