Travers Smith LLP is advising management and others on the acquisition of Premium Credit Limited (PCL) by a company backed by Cinven Partners LLP for £462 million.
PCL is the leading insurance premium finance company in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It works in partnership with a diverse network of leading insurance brokers and carriers to enable businesses and individuals to pay insurance premiums in instalments rather than a single annual payment. It also provides payment facilitation and financing services for professional fees, school fees, membership subscriptions and other commercial services.
In October 2012, Chicago based private equity firm GTCR acquired PCL from MBNA Europe Limited, a subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation. Since that transaction, the business experienced a significant transformation. PCL established an innovative standalone asset-backed funding facility with seven leading banks, completed the carve-out from Bank of America and made material investments to expand its strong customer relationships and service offerings.
In the last few years, Cinven Partners, one of the leading European private equity firms, has been building up a portfolio of specialty finance companies. The acquisition of PCL is a further sign of increased activity of the key private equity players in the financial services sector.
The Travers Smith team, which is advising on this transaction, is led by senior partner Chris Hale and also includes corporate associates Adam Orr, Matt Kichenside, Naveed Anwar and Adrian Duncan and tax partner Russell Warren and tax associate Tom Rickford.
Other advisers on the transaction included Kirkland Ellis, who represent GTCR and the other sellers and whose team is led by corporate partner Gavin Gordon, and Freshfields, who represent the buyer Cinven and whose team is led by Adrian Maguire.