US investment major Blackstone is reportedly in talks to acquire Interplex, a Singapore-based precision components company, from Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA), for at least $1 billion.
A Bloomberg report, which quoted people familiar with the matter, said Blackstone is currently laying out the details of the transaction, although final negotiations could still take weeks.
BPEA paid about $320 million to acquire Interplex Holdings in December 2015 from CVC Capital Partners and Standard Chartered Private Equity. The Singapore firm delisted from the local bourse when the transaction was completed in 2016.
Interplex, formerly known as Amtek Engineering, designs, engineers, and delivers advanced applications development and high-precision engineering solutions for customers in over 25 locations across over 13 countries, its website said.
According to the report, the acquisition talks commenced as Blackstone emerged as a leading bidder after beating out rival private equity firms, which also expressed interest to a acquire Interplex. Sources said there is no certainty in a deal yet.
The report comes a month after Blackstone raised $5.24 billion so far for its second Asia PE fund. Blackstone expects to hit the $6.4 billion hard cap for its second Asia PE vehicle, which is nearly three times the previous fund, said president and COO Jonathan Gray during the Q2 2021 earnings call.
The investment firm, which ended the second quarter with $684 billion in assets under management (AUM), had held a $3.1 billion first close for its second Asia fund in April. Limited partners include the US pension fund Washington State Investment Board, which committed up to $250 million to the vehicle.
Blackstone’s first Asia PE fund was closed at $2.3 billion in 2018, focusing on buyout opportunities in sectors such as healthcare, high-end manufacturing and services, and the so-called consumer upgrade sector in India, China, Korea, Japan, Australia, and Southeast Asia.
The firm’s private equity business makes growth equity, tactical opportunities, secondaries, infrastructure, and life sciences investments. The firm’s total private equity AUM in the second quarter increased 21% year-on-year to reach $223.6 billion.