People familiar with the matter say that Baring Private Equity Asia is looking at a combination of two Hong Kong-based business services firms.
The people said that BPEA is working with advisers on a merger that could value its two portfolio companies at $7 billion to $8 billion. The pan-Asian firm is merging with a Swedish investment firm and has notified the Tricor and Vistra's creditor.
BPEA is considering selling a stake in the larger of the two firms to help set a valuation for the merged business. BPEA might not go ahead with the stake sale, they said.
In June of this year, BPEA completed its purchase of Tricor from Permira in a deal that valued the company at over $2 billion. The people said that the firm started preparing for a merger after considering a sale of the firm.
Warburg Pincus and other private equity firms were interested in Vistra. People familiar with the matter said at the time that a deal could have been worth as much as $5 billion.
The people said that a potential disposal of Vistra would be challenging due to macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty. BPEA could be helped by a merger of the two companies.
There are discussions about a merger of Tricor and Vistra. A representative for BPEA wouldn't say anything.
Business operations and corporate governance support are provided by Tricor, which was founded in 2000. The services it offers include investor and share registry services. Half of it's clients are in mainland China.
IK Investment Partners sold a majority stake in the company to BPEA. Accounting, corporate secretarial work, company formation, compliance and transaction support are some of the back-office services offered by vistra.
The acquisition of Newhaven by BPEA increased its presence in the private wealth market.
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