Intermediate Capital Group, the European debt investor, has raised €544 million for the ICG Recovery Fund 08 and is looking to participate in balance sheet restructurings of good businesses in the short- to medium-term, according to London-based managing director Christophe Evain.
“We have seen a pick-up in the recovery space,” he told PEO in telephone interview following the firm’s interim results announcement yesterday.
The recovery fund, which is targeting up to €750 million, has two areas of focus, explained Evain. The first is the secondary acquisition of senior debt at a discount. This area was particularly active during the first half of 2009, but has since slowed as pricing has come back. The second area of focus – that of “fixing” balance sheets – is starting to become “interesting”, said Evain.
“We are looking to invest between €300 million and €400 million over the next six to nine months,” said Philip Keller, ICG’s finance director.
In the six months to the end of September, ICG reported a pre-tax profit of £8.1 million (€9 million; $13.4 million), compared to a figure of £39.8 million for the same period last year. However, the firm said provisions for bad debt were likely to be lower in the second half of the year and the firm has amassed “close to £2 billion of investment capacity” from both its own balance sheet and third part funds under management.
ICG is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its shares rose 3.6 percent yesterday to £2.82 following the publication of its half-year results.
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