Archer Capital is said to be on the cusp of reaching a deal to sell its credit checking company Illion to a private equity buyer, with some pointing to The Carlyle Group as the fund that is in the final negotiations.
The revelation comes after a number of interested buyers abandoned the chase for the Australian operation, once owned by Dun and Bradstreet, around the time that final bids were due on November 22.
Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, together with UniSuper, were always favoured as the strongest contender to buy the business, for which the asking price last month was said to be more than $1.5 billion.
However, the consortium left the contest, and after that time, investment banks selling the business, Citi and Houlihan Lokey, were believed to be working with other parties.
Other final contenders last month along with Carlyle were Bain Capital and Keppel Infrastructure.
PEP was also around the hoop, as was the buyout fund Odyssey.
Archer Capital is selling Illion after it purchased the business from the owners of Dun & Bradstreet for $220m in 2015.
The Carlyle Group would not confirm that it was remaining contender for Illion.”
KYK Price at posting:
11.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
