Good evening,

Car leasing is shaping up as the next battleground for private equity dealmakers.

Street Talk can reveal just as Pacific Equity Partners dealmakers get cracking on their take-private of the $1.2 billion SG Fleet, IFM Investors’ private equity team has dug up a smaller rival it reckons is primed for explosive growth.

IFM Investors’ Growth Partners 2 is understood to have agreed terms to acquire a 49 per cent stake in Splend Group, a one-stop financier for Uber drivers which is swelling its topline at 60 per cent a year and is on track to hit 10,000 cars by the end of the year.

The deal, negotiated over the Christmas holidays, would see IFM and a handful of co-investors, including the $90 billion industry super fund HESTA, buy out Splend’s early backers – Acorn Capital, Investec and Ord Minnett – at a circa $200 million valuation. Splend founder and CEO Chris King, a Young Rich List debutant from 2018, will retain about 40 per cent ownership alongside his family.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

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A day after MA Financial launched a $300 million raise for its credit income trust, Street Talk can reveal rival manager Realm Investment House is ready to go to investors with its first-of-its-kind offering.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.