Private equity giant Carlyle is acquiring a minority stake in Quest Global, while existing investors Bain Capital and Advent International will exit the Singapore-based engineering company.
As part of the transaction, Quest Global said it will repurchase its own shares, and the company’s chairman and CEO Ajit Prabhu will acquire an additional stake in the company.
The equity for the transaction will come from funds managed by Carlyle Asia Partners, the statement said.
The quantum of stake being acquired by Carlyle and Prabhu were not disclosed. The deal values the company at $2 billion, according to a report by Reuters on Tuesday.
Bain Capital, GIC and Advent had acquired a minority stake in Quest for $350 million in 2016. All the three acquired the stake from Warburg Pincus, which exited with an estimated 4X return on its 2010 investment in the firm., DealStreetAsia had reported
Established in 1997, Quest Global provides engineering, research and development services for design, product development, and operations of complex engineering systems. It employs a team of over 17,500 engineers, across 67 delivery centres and offices in 17 countries.
Carlyle’s buyout funds have invested over $35 billion of equity in over 280 deals globally as of the end of June, with approximately $5.6 billion of it in Asia.
Some of Quest Global’s other investors include Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, and True North.