VFS Consular-Services Firm Said to Draw Partners-Cinven Bid

(Bloomberg) -- Partners Group Holding AG has teamed up with Cinven to consider a joint a bid for consular- and visa-services company VFS Global Group, which could fetch up to 2.5 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion) in a sale, according to people familiar with the matter.

In addition to the private equity duo, VFS has drawn interest from CVC Capital Partners, Permira, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, PAI Partners, Onex Corp. and Singapore’s sovereign-wealth fund GIC Pte, the people said, asking not to be identified because the auction is private.

Stockholm-based private equity firm EQT Partners, VFS’s owner, is also considering a potential listing as an alternative to a sale, the people said. No final decisions have been made and EQT is still weighing all options for the company, they said.

VFS is one of the most coveted assets in Europe at a time when private equity firms and other financial bidders are having trouble finding enough places to invest their cash. The company is the world’s largest outsourcing and technology services firm, specializing in providing visa-processing services for governments and diplomatic missions, according to its website. EQT acquired VFS as part of its deal for travel firm Kuoni Group in 2016.

Representatives for EQT and the potential bidders declined to comment.

--With assistance from Jan-Henrik Förster, Scott Deveau and Joyce Koh.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah Syed in London at ssyed35@bloomberg.net;Dinesh Nair in London at dnair5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dinesh Nair at dnair5@bloomberg.net, ;Aaron Kirchfeld at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net, Amy Thomson, Michael Hytha

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