PE trio makes money back after stripping Retail Decisions of Australian assets

The London-based mid-market player initially bought Retail Decisions, or ReD, for £200m ($312m) in its first take-private deal, in December 2006.

Co-invested in the business are Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners and AlpInvest.

Now the consortium has made a partial exit by selling ReD's Australian assets, the proceeds of which will be used to pay down the company's debt and provide distributions to investors.

The sale price equals the cost of the private equity syndicate’s entry into the investment, and the trio will retain their controlling interest in ReD, which will continue to serve markets in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and South Africa.

The payment-processing sector is garnering interest from private equity currently, with Advent International and Bain Capital said to have been granted exclusivity in Royal Bank of Scotland’s auction for its Global Merchants Services unit.

The division - whose biggest asset is RBS Worldpay, a credit card payment-processing business – is being dumped as part of RBS’s disposal programme. The bank, majority owned by the UK government, is being made to sell non-core assets to shore up its balance sheet following its bail-out.

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