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31 Oct 2013 08:07
GRAPHITE ENTERPRISE TRUST PLC
31 October 2013
Graphite Enterprise Trust PLC ("the Company") announces that Graphite Capital Partners VII ("Graphite VII") has sold Alexander Mann Solutions ("AMS"), the global provider of talent acquisition and management services, to New Mountain Capital for £260 million. The transaction is subject to EU Competition Commission approval. AMS was the Company's sixth largest underlying investment at 31 July 2013.
Graphite VII backed the £100 million management buy-out of AMS in December 2007. Shortly thereafter, it supported the acquisition of Capital Consulting, the second largest dedicated provider of recruitment process outsourcing in the UK.
The exit price represents a 3.5x multiple of cost and an uplift of 48% to the gross carrying value of the investment at 31 July. Taken in isolation, the effect of the disposal is to increase the Company's net asset value per share by 6.1p to 688.4p, or by 0.9% compared with that at 31 July. Graphite VII is expected to distribute proceeds of approximately £14 million to the Company by the end of the year.
During Graphite's ownership, AMS has increased its range of services, refined its business model and expanded its global infrastructure. Its net fee income has doubled to nearly £100 million in 2012 with staff numbers growing from 900 to almost 2,000. AMS's portfolio of predominately multinational clients has doubled to 65 and includes Rolls-Royce, Deloitte, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Freshfields, Microsoft, Origin Energy, Vodafone, BAE Systems and Novartis.
The disposal of AMS represents the fifth successful exit by Graphite Capital in twelve months.
The Company's results for the nine months ended 31 October 2013 will be announced on 4 December 2013.