Francisco Partners is acquiring the business from rival private equity firm Nordic Capital, according to people familiar with the matter. The US-based firm beat out competition from other private equity groups and strategic buyers. Nordic Capital has made about six times its money after first backing Macrobond in 2018, showing the returns on offer to investors drawn to the typically predictable subscription-based revenues financial data providers have. Over the past 18 months, financial data providers Reorg and Leveraged Commentary and Data have both also traded hands in big money deals. Buyout group Permira took a majority stake last August in Reorg which valued the distressed debt and bankruptcy information provider at about $1.3bn. That came months after data group Morningstar acquired Leveraged Commentary and Data, which reports on debt financing transactions, from S&P in a deal worth up to $650mn. Nordic Capital bought Macrobond with the aim of helping it to expand its market position. 'We made significant investment into the technology of the business as well as putting a strong focus on building its unique data set and differentiating from its competition,' said Emil Anderson, a partner at Nordic Capital. Nordic Capital also helped push the company into new markets in Asia and North America....

'We're likely to see more and more deals being anchored by controlling or relevant holders,' said Roberto Zarour, a partner and restructuring lawyer at Lefosse Advogados. The capital injections, he added, are not always a voluntary decision from founders but a demand from creditors. Interest rates sitting at a six-year high, the credit stress that followed the collapse of retailer Americanas SA and monetary tightening in the US and Europe have made it harder to borrow at home and abroad. As a result, the pile of dollar corporate notes from the nation trading at distressed levels surged to $12 billion, up 26% from the start to the year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. In the past few months, at least half a dozen key shareholders have stepped in. Guilherme Paulus, who founded travel agency chain CVC Brasil Operadora e Agencia de Viagens SA five decades ago but had unloaded his stake in the past few years, subscribed part of the company's public equity offering that priced last Thursday. The transaction was part of an agreement with local bondholders in a distressed debt restructuring....

BlackRock Inc, Schroders PLC and AllianceBernstein Holding LP are among the international firms with operations in the region that are actively buying up mainland China private credit, private equity and distressed debt assets that in some cases offer steep discounts. One such target is software and services companies that have robust revenue streams from a blue-chip client base but few assets, said Simon Chan, director, Asia Pacific private credit team for BlackRock. The lack of assets means such firms may struggle to persuade banks to underwrite their funding activities, prompting them to turn to private sources, Chan said at a panel at the ASIFMA China Capital Markets conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday. While US-dollar fundraising for China private equity deals has slowed, local currency fundraising remains active. In yuan private equity funds, up to 70% of limited partners are not institutional investors and discounts on secondaries deals are common, according to Jun Qian, head of Private Equity China, Schroders Capital....

Indian edtech giant Byju's has filed a complaint in the New York Supreme Court to challenge the acceleration of the $1.2 billion term loan B, calling their demands for prepayment of the entire amount 'high-handed,' and sought to disqualify investment management firm Redwood, who it alleges has conducted a series of predatory tactics. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup said that Redwood purchased a significant portfolio of the loan while primarily trading in distressed debt 'with the intent of making windfall gains.' Byju's took the loan in late 2021 as it sought financing option to fund its fast-growth without diluting existing shareholders' equity stake in the firm. 'On the back of this unconscionable acceleration of the TLB, the TLB lenders undertook unwarranted enforcement measures including seizing control of Byju's Alpha and appointing its own management. Not resting content with this, the TLB lenders (acting through their agent, GLAS Trust Company) commenced litigation in Delaware in an attempt to lend credence to these actions,' Byju's said Tuesday....