Towerbrook to inject €100m in BC-backed CarTrawler in debt-for-equity swap

Some of the company's lenders are also expected to convert part of their debt into equity. This deal is expected to see BC fully exit.

CarTrawler has €120m of its term loan B and €25m of its revolving credit facility debt outstanding. RBC and Lloyds underwrote the covenant-loose deal in 2015 and syndicated it to a small number of funds.

Towerbrook is currently investing from its TowerBrook Investors V fund, which closed on $4.25bn in June 2018.

In March 2014, BC and Insight Venture Partners acquired Irish online car rental service CarTrawler from ECI Partners in what the GP called its biggest ever exit in value terms at the time. The sale was valued in the range of £300-380m in reports.

In April 2020, the firm engaged in restructuring conversations with creditors after identifying a need for €80m and suggested an initial debt-for-equity swap, but lenders rejected the plan, according to a report by Unquote sister publication Debtwire. BC had asked lenders to fully write off their claims in exchange for a 50% equity stake in the business and provide half of the required new money injection.

CarTrawler is a car rental services aggregator. The software company was founded by Niall and Greg Turley in 2004 and is based in Dublin.

Towerbrook and BC had not responded to request for comment at the time of publication.

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• Topics
• Exits
• Refinancing
• Expansion
• UK / Ireland
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• Secondary purchase
• Debt-for-equity swap
• Lloyds
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• BC Partners
• Towerbrook Capital Partners
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