Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised global private markets investment manager Partners Group on the acquisition of Trimco International Holdings Limited, a global provider of garment label solutions to the garment manufacturing industry, on behalf of its clients. The acquisition, which was completed on 25 April, was structured as a leveraged buyout with the founder and senior management team of Trimco reinvesting a significant portion of their sale proceeds into the new company. Concurrently with the transaction, Trimco was negotiating a bolt-on acquisition of a UK-based international label solution provider, which completed shortly after the principal transaction closed and was funded as part of that transaction.

“This is one of the few recent small cap control buyout transactions successfully closed by private equity investors in Asia, ” said Simon Cooke, M&A and private equity partner who led the team on this transaction. “With a number of PE funds coming towards the end of their lifetime and looking for exit opportunities and private equity money from newer generation funds available for investments, we are likely to continue to see an increased number of these sorts of transactions in the Asian market.”

Simon Cooke led the Clifford Chance team with assistance from corporate associates Isaac Stewart, Sarah Rogers and Maureen Ho. Tokyo partner Peter Kilner led the finance team with assistance from Hong Kong associates Victor Sim, Adrian Poon and Shadow Ni. 

Trimco is based in Hong Kong with operations in China, India, Thailand and Singapore.  With the bolt-on acquisition it has now extended its operations to the UK, Turkey, Romania and other important garment manufacturing hubs. Partners Group is a global private markets investment management firm with EUR25 billion in investment programs under management in private equity, private real estate, private infrastructure and private debt.