Candover winds down buy-out fund

Private equity fund manager Candover is to wind down its €3bn (£2.73bn) buy-out fund. The €3bn fund, which was launched last year, has been suspended since April, when the group's listed arm revealed it could not fulfil its £1bn commitment to the fund. That suspension period expires at midnight today and Candover's advisory committee has recommended that the fund be terminated.Candover said it would extend the suspension of its fund until January 8 to give investors more time to finalise the termination plan.The 2008 Fund will scale back future commitments to just £90m to provide cash for the fund's sole investment, oil and gas services business Expro, where Candover led a €2.6bn buyout in July 2008."The effect of this will be to substantially reduce the size of the fund and release all investors (including Candover Investments plc) from a significant proportion of their undrawn commitments," the statement today said.Reports this morning suggested that the deal making team at the firm was trying to set up a new fund.