HgCapital sells Voyage Care to investor consortium

Ellie Pullen
06 August 2014

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HgCapital has sold its stake of around 65% in UK care provider Voyage Care to Duke Street, Partners Group and Tikehauтs Salvepar for ТЃ375m.

The deal included around £110m in equity, of which Partners Group provided more than half.

Tikehau's listed investment vehicle Salvepar is investing up to £11.5m in the transaction. Tikehau acquired a 35% stake in Duke Street last year.

This will mark the second time for Voyage under Duke Street's ownership. The GP created the business through the acquisition of Milbury Community in September 2001 for around £66m, according to unquote" data, and grew the firm via subsequent bolt-ons.

RBS arranged a debt package for the original deal. Duke Street named the newly formed group as Paragon Healthcare Group before selling it to HgCapital and SL Capital Partners in 2006.

SL Capital, which held an approximate 25% stake in the business, has also exited through the deal.

HgCapital's London Stock Exchange-listed investment trust has realised cash proceeds of around £8.4m from the sale.

Debt
In January last year, Voyage issued £222m in high yield bonds and an offering of £50m privately placed second lien notes. The bonds were issued to refinance Voyage's existing senior credit facilities.

Lloyds acted as joint bookrunner on the high yield bond offering, while Rothschild acted as independent debt adviser to HgCapital and Voyage.

A condition of HgCapital's sale to Duke Street, Partners and Tikehau is obtainment of consent to a change-of-control waiver from bondholders.

Previous investment
HgCapital and SL Capital Partners acquired Voyage in a £322m deal in April 2006. According to unquote" data, HgCapital's acquisition was supported by a £230m senior debt package from Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.

The deal was sourced via an auction process run by Close Brothers; HgCapital completed the transaction within 48 hours.

In April 2012, HgCapital and SL Capital Partners provided Voyage with fresh capital to finance the bolt-on of UK care provider Solor Care from Barclays Ventures and RBS.

The following March, the two firms injected further funding into the business for its acquisition of care services provider Independent Living Group.

Under HgCapital's ownership, Voyage's headcount increased from 3,200 staff to 8,500. Its turnover has also increased from £88m in 2005 to £181.4m.

Company
Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Lichfield, Voyage provides care services to people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities and brain injuries.

It provides registered accommodation, supported living and day care services to more than 3,000 people and operates 14 day centres across the UK.

The company employs 8,500 staff and is believed to have generated £181.4m in revenues for the year ending in March 2013.

People
Kevin Roberts is the CEO of Voyage. Charlie Troup is a partner at Duke Street and will be joining Voyage's board of directors. Andrew Deakin is a managing director of Partners Group's private equity team. Philipp Schwalber is a director at HgCapital.

Advisers
Equity (Duke Street) - Evercore (Corporate finance); DLA Piper (Legal).