Buy-out offers for GPG units

Press, 22 July 1989, Page 31

Buy-out offers for GPG units

By

TONY VERDON

in London

The disposal of the British financial services concern, Guinness Peat Group, formerly controlled by Equiticorp, is likely to proceed through a series of management buy-outs rather than an outright sale. The company, which is 61 per cent owned by creditor banks of Equiticorp, said that buy-out offers had been received for all but one of its businesses. These were Fenchurch, its insurance broking arm, where talks were at an advanced stage, Forstmann-Leff, its New York-based fund management company and Eagle, another fund management company based in Texas. In addition United States executives had offered to buy out a group of U.S. property businesses. This left only the Management Compensation Group, a benefits consulting company based in Oregon. Although several outside companies had expressed an interest in buying parts of GPG, no firm offers had come forward, so the banks are willing to consider the buy-out proposals. However, this will leave them still owning shares in GPG, rather than obtaining cash. The banks became owners of GPG when Equiticorp went into voluntary liquidation at the beginning of the year. Since then the banks have been trying to find buyers in order to recover their loans. The banks have already sold their stake in GPG’s sister company, Guinness Mahon, to the Bank of Yokohama.