riday, January 8th, 2010, 12:56 pm
Under the terms of a debt refinancing deal, Bank of America (BAC: 16.78 -0.89%) Merrill Lynch (BofA) and Japanese bank Mizuho will now jointly own a majority stake in the private equity firm that owns London-based mortgage brokerage Alexander Hall and real estate brokerage Foxtons, a source at Merrill Lynch confirmed to HousingWire.
In 2007, Mizuho financed £260m (US $416.2m) of the £360m leveraged buyout of Alexander Hall, the mortgage brokerage, and Foxtons, its sister real estate brokerage. Private equity firm BC Partners acquired the two companies using funding from Mizuho and BofA.
The restructuring arrangement cuts Foxtons’ debt from about £300m to £120m. Both banks will reportedly appoint representatives to sit on the company’s board, creating an atypical arrangement for a lender to assume control of the company to satisfy debt.
