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Blackstone in for Barclays US’s credit card receivables; EQT to be ‘disciplined’ on deployment

Morning Hubsters, Craig McGlashan here.

For the second Tuesday in a row, we’ve got news of private equity buying a business from a bank, as financial institutions look to cut capital requirements and focus on core lending activities. This time it's Blackstone agreeing to a deal with the US arm of Barclays Bank.

Next we look beyond the headlines around EQT’s largest-ever fundraise to delve into the deals the Swedish private equity giant has made so far from EQT X and what it suggests about the wider dealmaking environment.

We then finish with Jefferies hiring two executives from William Blair for its private capital advisory team.

Credit where it’s due

Blackstone has agreed to buy about $1.1 billion of credit card receivables from the US division of UK bank Barclays, the latest move by a private equity firm to snap up assets from financial institutions looking to reduce capital requirements.

Find out more about the deal and the trend in the subscriber version of the Wire.

Pacing

EQT this morning announced that it had collected $24 billion for its 10th flagship fund, EQT X, exceeding its $21.6 billion target.

You can get lots of details on how the size of the fundraise stacks up against EQT’s competition and what it suggests about LPs’ current preference for big-name firms from our colleagues over at Private Equity International.

But for dealmakers, check out the subscriber version of the Wire to learn more about some of the investments so far from EQT X.

People news

Jefferies is hiring two executives from William Blair to join its private capital advisory team at a time of rising interest and challenges in fundraising and secondaries activity, sources told affiliate title Buyouts.

OK that’s all for today – Chris Witkowsky will be in the chair tomorrow.

Cheers,

Craig

Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

The location of Montana Capital Partners‘ headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, inadvertently inspired the mantra that the firm carries through its global sourcing: getting out and pounding the pavement. “By and large, when you’re not based in a place such as New York or London, you really have to get out to meet people. We then made a virtue out of a necessity in the sense that we knew we had to get out,” said managing partner Christoph Jäckel. (Secondaries Investor)

Pomona Capital is seeking $3 billion for its 11th flagship secondaries fund, a $400 million increase from its prior pool. (Buyouts)

Tokyo-headquartered fundraising platform LUCA is in talks to add more private markets offerings after its formal launch on 29 February, Private Equity International has learned.

Constrained banks look to synthetic sub line risk transfers: Credit risk transfers and credit guaranties are on the menu for banks facing capital and limits headwinds. (Private Funds CFO)

They said it

“This collaboration demonstrates how we are supporting leading financial institutions with large-scale, long-term, efficient capital solutions in the asset-based finance markets.”

— Robert Horn, global head of infrastructure and asset-based credit at Blackstone, on the firm's acquisition of a portfolio of credit card receivables from Barclays.