PEP exits the last of its stake in Australia's Veda

The transaction - announced via an exchange filing - saw the Australian GP sell 165 million shares at A$2.31 a share. It comes around six months after the firm started unloading its stake, selling about 269 million shares at A$2.15 apiece - generating A$580 million - in August.  This was followed by another partial exit in October which generated A$218 million.

PEP acquired its stake in Veda in 2007 in a joint deal with Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity, with the pair paying A$963 million for a 100% stake. It raised A$341 million when it floated Veda on the ASX last year while retaining a 64% stake in the business.

Veda operates the primary credit bureaus in Australia and New Zealand and is now a principal source of consumer credit information. The company expects demand for its data-driven services will increase as consumers seek not only information about themselves but ways to ensure they are not subject to fraud and misreporting of their true financial position.

PEP's exit follows Veda reporting strong first half profits of A38.1 million after a A$12.5 million loss for the same period the previous year; revenue rose 11% to A$163 million.

In December, PEP also exited its stake in Australian cinema operator Hoyts Group to an investment vehicle set up by Xishuang Sun, chairman of Chinese property developer Dalian Yifang for an undisclosed sum.

In 12 months prior to that PEP has been very active in the exit market and has been responsible for two IPOs, Spotless Group and Asaleo Care, worth $1.56 billion, and managed to secure a full exit from the latter. The GP received close to $550 million from the two offerings. There were also trade sales of Peters Ice Cream and Griffin's Foods.

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• Topics
• Exits
• Australasia
• Financials
• Australia
• Financial Services
• Exit
• Pacific Equity Partners