Carlyle to buy 30% of Quest Global for $500 mn

Private equity (PE) giant Carlyle has agreed to acquire a significant minority stake in engineering services firm Quest Global, the two companies said on Tuesday.

- Sneha Shah & Ranjani Raghavan

Simultaneously, Carlyle and Quest will together buy back all shares from the company’s existing investors, Bain Capital LP, Advent International LP, and GIC Re and extinguish them. Alongside, founder Ajit Prabhu will bring in additional funds to increase his stake.

According to a person aware of the deal, Carlyle will invest $500 million; once the shares bought back are extinguished and Prabhu makes his investment, Carlyle will end up with a stake of about 30%. The transaction values Quest Global at around $1.8 billion, the person said on condition of anonymity.

The buyback is worth about $200 million, while Prabhu will invest $120 million to increase his stake by 8% to about 40%, the person added.

Mint first reported Carlyle’s plans to invest in the Singapore-based Quest Global on 23 May. Earlier, PE firm Apax Global was also in the race for the Quest Global stake.