HgCapital acquires The Foundry in £200m tertiary buyout

The deal marks the company's third successive period under private equity ownership, with Carlyle having originally acquired the business from Advent Venture Partners in 2011, in a transaction reportedly worth between £75-100m.

Under its new owners, The Foundry will invest heavily in research and development and look to secure partnerships with similar businesses.

The sale comes six months after the business agreed a refinancing package with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in order to repay its mezzanine debt.

The Foundry initially agreed a debt package with SVB in 2010, a year before the company was acquired by Carlyle. The lender then provided a senior debt facility to support Carlyle's acquisition of the business.

The following year, The Foundry merged with US 3D software specialist Luxology, with SVB providing a new credit line to support the merger. The merger formed part of Carlyle's international expansion plans for the company.

Company
Headquartered in London and founded in 1996, The Foundry is a provider of visual effects software for use in media production and design. Its clients include Pixar, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Walt Disney Animation and The Moving Picture Company. The business has a headcount of around 300.

People
Nic Humphries is a managing partner at HgCapital. Bill Collis is CEO of The Foundry.

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