Embattled European giant IVG could be stripped to its core by rival fund managers picking off parts of its business, writes Bridget O’Connell.
Following the sale of the private fund business, investment management giants are now circling the Bonn-headquartered firm’s institutional fund business, which has €11.8bn (£9.8bn) of AUM across Europe. Alongside open-ended specialised real estate funds, this division also leads club deals and manages property portfolios owned by institutional investors through segregated mandates.
The Frankfurt-listed firm’s caverns arm, which stores gas and oil, could also be sold.
This would leave the heavily indebted business, which is in voluntary insolvency, with just the assets it built up through its balance sheet. These include a €3.2bn investment portfolio and a €1.7bn development portfolio.
IVG has €4bn of debt secured against these assets and the company itself, including a €400m corporate bond. A proposed debt-for-equity swap, which would wipe out equity investors and hand control to private equity creditors, was voted through on 20 March. A potential sale of the institutional arm is understood to have been approved by stakeholders including Cerberus Capital Management, Marathon Asset Management, Varde Partners, Aurelius Capital Management and Davidson Kempner Capital Management.
