Edmond de Rothschild offloads PE unit in MBO

The management firm will operate under the name Seligman Private Equity Select going forward. It will continue to manage private equity funds-of-funds, investing in small European buy-out and growth equity funds.

The move was apparently motivated by LCFR's decision to reduce its commitment to private equity sponsorship, mainly due to the current regulatory and market environment.

A spokesperson for the bank confirmed that LCFR's direct investment divisions (Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners and Edmond de Rothschild Capital Partners) would not be affected by this strategy for the time being.

Founded by David Seligman in 2003, Select manages three funds: European Buy-Out Opportunities I, European Buy-Out Opportunities II, and European Secondary Opportunities I - which is due to hold a first close shortly. Funds under management are around the €200m mark.

LCFR is the latest in a series of French institutional investors to divest all or part of their PE activity. AXA Private Equity is currently on the block, already attracting significant interest and likely to fetch upwards of €500m. Earlier this year, Macif sold its 53% stake in listed buyout house OFI Private Equity to Eurazeo for €66m. Meanwhile Crédit Agricole is also in the process of offloading its private equity arm; the bank is understood to have mandated M&A specialist Arjil to look at options for the potential divestment of Crédit Agricole Private Equity (CAPE).

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• Topics
• France
• Fund-of-funds
• Buyouts
• Rothschild & Cie