Coller buys Crédit Agricole PE unit and funds

The sale is subject to authorisation from the competent authorities and is scheduled to complete in Q1 2012. Although financials details are kept confidential, the sale will reduce Crédit Agricole's risk-weighted assets by around €900m. Media reports valued the transaction at around €300m.

Like many other financial institutions across Europe – such as AXA and Barclays – Crédit Agricole's decision to sell its private equity unit and fund interests is part of a plan to optimise capital allocation. In addition, the bank stated it was looking to refocus its private equity activities on local business, via its regional investment units.

Based in Paris and with 95 members of staff, CAPE is a generalist fund manager active in most of the private equity space, including small- and mid-cap LBOs, venture and mezzanine. It currently manages €3.7bn worth of commitments across several funds.

Crédit Agricole is the main sponsor in CAPE's funds, although the proportion of capital managed by CAPE on behalf of other institutional investors has increased from 20% in 2005 to 34% today.

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