12.06.2007

3i to exit HSS

Private Equity company 3i is reportedly close to agreeing a deal to sell its UK based rental company HSS to Och-Ziff Capital Management, a hedge fund, for around £300 million.

The deal is also said to be supported by Archie Norman, the ex MP and former boss of Asda, the supermarket chain that he sold to Walmart.

If there is anything to the rumours, Norman who will buy in through his private equity fund, Aurigo Management, could become non-executive chairman of HSS which operates throughout the UK and Ireland, has a joint venture in Spain and franchises in several other countries.

3i purchased HSS from the Davis group in December 2003 for £145

Och-Ziff is being advised by Lazard and apparently intends to back HSS's existing management team headed by Chris Davies who joined the company last August from the Disney Stores.
See New CEO at HSS
Och-Ziff investments in private companies include headhunter Whitehead Mann, investment bank Climate Change Capital, and discount retailer Peacocks.

The fund, which was founded by an ex Goldman-Sachs man, Dan Och in 1994 with funding from the Ziff brothers, is one of the world's largest managers of hedge funds with around $30bn in assets, of which around 20 percent is invested in private companies.

No comment was available from any of participants but an announcement concerning completion o fthe deal is expected at any moment.