US middle-market private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners has closed a $1.2bn single-asset continuation vehicle for its stake in Circana, a global consumer behaviour adviser, with Blackstone Strategic Partners and HarbourVest Partners acting as lead investors in the transaction.
Vestar led a recapitalisation of Information Resources, Circana’s predecessor, with IR’s original control shareholder, New Mountain Capital (NMC) in 2018. In 2022, IR merged with NPD Group, a Hellman & Friedman portfolio company, to form Circana, now jointly owned by H&F, Vestar, NMC and management.
The market-based process established an alternative for existing Vestar investors to consider full and partial liquidity or rollover while providing the company with access to committed capital for accretive initiatives, according to a press release.
Evercore and Jefferies served as financial advisors and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal advisor to Vestar. Proskauer Rose served as legal advisor to Blackstone Strategic Partners and Sidley Austin served as legal advisor to Harbourvest Partners.
