CVW. Is Clearview in Play?, page-2

The Australian has a interesting article.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...s/news-story/dfb9b18867d478cba3e6e1ffa4f632ee
Macquarie in stealth mode as ClearView in sights

Investment bank Macquarie Capital is understood to have quietly manoeuvred its way into the process to review options for Crescent Capital’s 47 per cent stake in ClearView, according to market analysts.
Morgan Stanley remains on the ticket, but it is understood from some industry sources that a sales process for ClearView run by the bank yielded a result where only one bidder came forward in what is a highly specialised industry which could require any suitors for the stake or the entire company to gain approval from regulators.
The hope is that Macquarie may offer further fire power to the contest to buy what is considered one of the industry’s more well regarded financial planning operations, which has seen its share price more than double in the past six years.
Attractive to any suitor would be the company’s management.
Simon Swanson, ClearView’s founder and managing director, is said to be a well regarded industry operator.
Yesterday, ClearView reported a 89 per cent lift in its annual net profit to $23.6 million, as revenue also increased, on the back of a lift in its life insurance and wealth management operation.
In the meantime, the widely held view is that ClearView is in the sights of former chairman Gary Weiss, who recently stepped down from the board to prevent any conflict of interest.
The right hand man to Kiwi corporate raider Ron Brierley during the 1980s, Dr Weiss is expected to be part of a potential deal that could see funds out of the US and Asia take out the interest.
Ariadne, a company for which Dr Weiss also counts himself a director, could also be part of that transaction.
At a time global buyout firms remain in search of opportunities, it will be interesting to see if any buyout firms such as TPG Capital or The Carlyle Group also emerge as in the mix.
In the meantime, some are tipping that Crescent is increasingly becoming a forced seller, as questions remain surrounding how eager its investors will be to reinvest in funds during the future.
The Australian-based buyout firm has faced a number of challenges.
Along with its ClearView stake, Crescent also owns 46.7 per cent of mining services provider Cardno, along with Ground Probe, and both are in a sector for which there is limited buyer appetite.
Both ClearView and Cardno were takeover targets of Crescent, where attempts to swallow the entire entities was unsuccessful, and the buyout firm was left with the large stakes.
Cardno’s shares have more or less halved since Crescent launched its bid last year