NEW YORK, October 20, 1999 - Castle Harlan, Inc., the New York merchant bank, announced today it had agreed to acquire a 50 percent stake in the business of private equity manager Australian Mezzanine Investments Pty. Limited (AMIL) in order to make private equity buyout investments in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere in Asia. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
AMIL, based in Sydney, is one of Australia's oldest and most prominent private equity firms. The new management company to be formed by the two entities will be called Castle Harlan Australian Mezzanine Partners Pty. Limited (CHAMP) and will be based in Sydney.
Castle Harlan said that it and CHAMP had each launched separate buyout funds that will raise $300 million in the aggregate from Castle Harlan, AMIL, their associates and investors in their existing funds.
John Castle, chairman of Castle Harlan, said, "We at Castle Harlan look to this first expansion of Castle Harlan outside the United States with great enthusiasm and great optimism."
Leonard Harlan, Castle Harlan's president, added, "We identified AMIL as the pre-eminent private equity manager in Australia, and we support this partnership with all of our resources."
AMIL's principals, Bill Ferris and Joe Skrzynski, commented: "We feel the hybrid vigor of Australian Mezzanine Investments and Castle Harlan will combine the best of Australian and U.S. private equity managers to create a clear leader in Australasian private equity."
They said AMIL's existing investment funds would not be affected by the joint venture, but all future AMIL investment funds will be organized under the umbrella of CHAMP. Castle Harlan will continue to organize and manage private equity investment funds outside of Australasia.
Howard Morgan, a Castle Harlan managing director, will relocate to Sydney next year to assist in the establishment of CHAMP.
Castle Harlan, founded in 1987, has organized and managed three private equity investment funds totaling more than $1 billion and representing major corporate and public pension funds, college endowments, foundations and individual investors. The firm has completed acquisitions exceeding $3.5 billion.
Castle Harlan's portfolio companies have included Delaware Management Company, the Philadelphia-based money-management firm with more than $32 billion in assets under management; Truck Components, Inc., the largest manufacturer of components for large-truck braking systems; Smarte Carte, the world's largest airport luggage cart rental company, and MAG Aerospace, the leader in worldwide manufacture of aircraft sanitation systems.
Currently among its portfolio companies are Universal Compression, Inc., a leading independent provider of natural gas compression equipment and services; Worldwide Flight Services, one of the world's leading providers of ground services to the aviation industry, which was acquired from AMR Corp. in March; and the Verdugt B. V. group of acid salts businesses, based in the Netherlands, which was acquired from BP Amoco in April.
AMIL has managed several private equity investment funds totaling $150 million and has made a total of 26 investments.