Indian travel and tours company Cox & Kings Ltd (BOM:533144) is looking to raise some USD140m (EUR111.5m) from the sale of a minority interest in its British unit Prometheon Holdings (UK) Ltd, the Economic Times cited on Friday informed people as saying.
Cox & Kings, seeking to get funds to repay the debt contracted to pay for its acquisition of Holidaybreak Plc, is in advanced negotiations with several private equity firms, including KKR & Co LP (NYSE:KKR), Bain Capital LLC, Carlyle Group LP (NASDAQ:CG) and TPG Capital LP, and could soon strike a deal, according to the paper.
One of the people told the Economic Times that an agreement had already been reached with one private equity fund, but the paper said it could not verify the information.
Cox & Kings bought British education and activity travel firm Holidaybreak last year for GBP312m (USD487m/EUR388m) using USD200m of equity financing and covering the rest with bank debt of its Prometheon unit. The deal, the largest overseas one struck by an Indian travel firm, added new products and markets to Cox & Kings’ portfolio, expanding its global network, the buyer said in July 2011, when it announced the agreement.
Cox & Kings’ board cleared in May a plan to sell Prometheon shares to investors which is expected to be implemented soon.
The Indian group offers through its global network services in categories leisure travel, corporate travel, visa processing and foreign exchange
