Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 1, 2026

BC Partners

BC Partners LLP is a British international investment firm with over $40 billion of assets under management across private equity, credit and real estate in Europe and North America. Its global headquarters are in London. The firm invests across all industries. BC Partners was founded in 1986 and has offices in New York, Paris and Hamburg. Since inception, BC Partners has completed 113 private equity investments in companies with a total enterprise value of €145 billion.

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Jun 1, 2026
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BC Partners LLP
Company type
Private
IndustryPrivate equity
PredecessorBaring Capital Investors
Founded1986 (1986)
FounderOtto van der Wyck
HeadquartersLondon (Global)
Key people
Raymond Svider1
Nikos Stathopoulos2
Jean-Baptiste Wautier3
ProductsPrivate Equity, Credit, Real Estate
AUM$40+ billion4
Number of employees
~190
Websitewww.bcpartners.com

BC Partners LLP is a British5 international investment firm with over $40 billion of assets under management across private equity, credit and real estate in Europe and North America.4 Its global headquarters are in London. The firm invests across all industries. BC Partners was founded in 1986 and has offices in New York, Paris and Hamburg.6 Since inception, BC Partners has completed 113 private equity investments in companies with a total enterprise value of €145 billion.7

As one of the largest European private equity firms, BC Partners competes for buyouts and investment opportunities with other large cap private equity firms including Blackstone Group, KKR, CVC Capital Partners, Advent International and The Carlyle Group.89 The firm raised its eighth fund in 2005, which at the time made it the largest European buyout fund. Raised in less than five months, the fund was heavily oversubscribed. Investors in previous funds supplied 90% of the capital.10 The firm's most recent fund, BC Partners X, was one of the largest buyout funds raised in 2018.11

BC Partners was until recently majority shareholder of Intelsat, the global satellite services provider valued at US$16.6 billion in its leveraged buyout in 2007—one of the largest private equity buyouts of all time led by a consortium of investors including BC Partners and Silver Lake Partners. In 2008, BC Partners replaced Intelsat's chairman with Raymond Svider, BC's New York–based co-chairman.12 Sometime between 2008 and 2018, BC Partners sold all of Intelsat to the company.

History

The firm, founded in 1986 as Baring Capital Investors Ltd. by Otto van der Wyck, who was also a co-founder of CVC Capital Partners. Originally, BC Partners was formed by Barings to advise funds providing development capital, in particular for management buyouts. John Burgess joined him from Candover, the US and UK buyout house, a month after.13 The principals of Baring Capital Investors completed a spinout of what would become BC Partners following the collapse of Barings in 1995.14 Van der Wyck left the firm in 2001, and has held senior roles with firms including Coller Capital, Climate Change Capital and AlpInvest Partners.

Raised / Announced Fund Vintage Year Fund Size (USD)
BC Partners X 2017 €7.0 billion1115
BC Partners IX 2011 €6.7 billion1615
BC Partners VIII 2005 €5.9 billion 17
BC Partners VII 2000 €4.3 billion18
BC Partners VI 1998 €1.1 billion
BC Partners V 1994 €450 million

Significant transactions

Washington D.C. headquarters of BC Partners-owned satellite operator Intelsat source ↗
One of BC Partners-owned Migros Türk retail stores. The company is Turkey's leading supermarket chain. source ↗

As of December 31, 2019, BC Partners portfolio includes 114 companies with aggregate sales revenue of €145 billion.19 BC Partners can commit over $2.75 billion (€2.0 billion) of equity to any single transaction. The firm's most successful and profitable realized investments include General Healthcare (leading acute care hospital provider and independent provider of psychiatric care), C&C Group plc (leading seller of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages), Galbani (market-leading cheese company) and Phones 4u (leading mobile phone provider in the UK - until its bankruptcy in September 2014).

In June 2013, BC Partners agreed to buy German publisher Springer Science+Business Media for about 3.3 billion euros.20

BC Partners revealed in January 2015 that it would sell its 40.25 percent stake in its supermarket chain Migros Türk to the Turkish conglomerate Anadolu Endustri Holding AS for around $2.74 billion.21

In June 2019 Chewy, which was acquired by BC Partners in 2017, and is the online pet retailer division of PetSmart, announced its IPO on the NYSE when it was valued at $8.8 billion.22

In 2019, BC Partners announced their backing for the acquisition23 (via the United Group) of Vivacom, the largest Bulgarian telecom. The acquisition became an issue of the media and legal dispute with the company's previous owner, Empreno Ventures, which asked BC Partners24 to wait until judicial resolution.

On November 7, BC Partners was added to a lawsuit by Empreno seeking to ban the sale of Vivacom.25

In early 2021, the firm entered into talks with Inter Milan owner Suning about potentially buying the football club.26

Year Company name Description of BC Partners Transaction27
2022 Fedrigoni US$3.0 billion for 50% stake 28
2022 Havea Group US$1.1 billion (approx.)29
2018 GFL Environmental CAD$5.1 billion for majority stake in waste services company GFL Environmental.30
2018 United Group €2.6 billion for majority stake in telecom provider United Group.31
2018 Navex Global Acquisition of ethics and compliance software and services company NAVEX Global from Vista Equity Partners32
2017 Chewy $3.4 billion for the e-commerce company specializing in pet products — largest e-commerce acquisition in history 33
2016 CenturyLink $2.3 billion acquisition of data center operations.34
2016 Keter €1.4 billion for the acquisition of global manufacturer of quality resin consumer products35
2016 Elysium Healthcare £360 million for the acquisition of a portfolio of mental health hospitals from Partnerships in Care and the Priory Group36
2014 Cartrawler Car rental technology platform bought from ECI Partners37
2014 PetSmart $8.7 billion acquisition of pet services and products vendor38
2013 Acuris Acquisition of MergerMarket, now called Acuris, news service from Pearson plc39
2012 Sullair Milton Roy Sundyne $3.4 billion LBO of industrial business engaged in the design, manufacture and supply of specialist pumps and compressors40
2012 Suddenlink $6.5 billion LBO of 7th largest cable communications system operator in the US;41 sale of 70% interest in Suddenlink held by BC and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for $9.1 Bn announced in May 201542
2011 Phones 4u Bought for £700 million; entered into administration on 15 September 20144344
2011 Com Hem Largest LBO in Europe in 201145
2010 MultiPlan $3.1 billion LBO of provider of health care cost management services
2009 Office Depot provider of office products and services
2008 SGB-SMIT Group Manufacturer of transformers (sold in 2017)
2008 Migros Türk Turkey's leading supermarket chain
2008 Intelsat $16.6 billion acquisition of fixed satellite service provider
2007 Foxtons UK estate agency, bought at the top of the property market in May 2007 for £370 million46 In December 2009, BC Partners lost control of Foxtons, less than three years after buying it, after creditors reorganized the real estate broker's debt.47
2006 Brenntag Second largest LBO in Germany to date
2006 Regency Entertainment Largest public-to-private LBO in Greece to date
2005 Amadeus IT Group Largest LBO in Spain to date
2004 Picard Largest LBO in France that year
2003 SEAT PG Largest LBO in Europe at the time
2002 Hirslanden Largest LBO in Switzerland that year
2001 Sanitec Largest public to private LBO in Finland to date
2000 Mark IV Largest LBO in the US by a European sponsor at the time
References

References

  1. "BC Partners-Raymond Svider". Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  2. "BC Partners-Nikos Stathopoulos". Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  3. "BC-Partners-Jean-Baptiste Wautier". Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  4. "Appgate, a Leading Cybersecurity Company, to Merge With Public Company Newtown Lane Marketing". Business Wire. 9 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  5. "BC partners: Legal". Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  6. "Contact Us". BC Partners.
  7. "Portfolio". BC Partners. 30 June 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  8. "Blackstone, BC Partners, CVC Mull Bids for Kabel Deutschland". Retrieved 27 January 2010.
  9. "PE HUB » Reuters – CVC Capital, BC Partners Ready Bid for Elior". PE HUB. 20 February 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  10. "BC Partners ramping up for next fundraising". Buyouts Insider / Argosy Group LLC.
  11. Dowd, Kevin. "The 6 biggest buyout funds of 2018 (so far)". Pitchbook.
  12. "Intelsat Chairman Resigns; Succeeded By BC Partners Exec". BN. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  13. Meikle, Brad (1 October 2000). "Deploying Europe's biggest buyout fund". Buyouts. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  14. Smith, Elliot (26 February 2020). "The Barings collapse 25 years on: What the industry learned after one man broke a bank". CNBC. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  15. "BC Partners Closes BC European Capital X at €7 Billion Target". LegalMonitor. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  16. Scott, Mark (21 February 2012). "BC Partners Raises $8.6 Billion Fund". The New York Times.
  17. "UPDATE 1-BC Partners writes fund back up to par-source". Reuters. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  18. "BC Partners closes record fund". PEI. 21 July 2005. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  19. "BC Partners | Private Equity Investments". BC Partners. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  20. Alexander Huebner; Claire Ruckin; Ludwig Burger; Christoph Steitz (19 June 2013). "BC Partners to buy Springer Science for 3.3 billion euros". Reuters.
  21. BC Partners to sell half of its stake in Migros to Turkey's Anadolu. Reuters, 31 December 2014
  22. Hirsch, Lauren; Lucas, Amelia (14 June 2019). "Chewy, PetSmart's online business, soars as much 86% after IPO pricing at $22 per share". CNBC. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  23. "Bulgarian telecoms group Vivacom eyed in buyout battle". Financial Times. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  24. "Empreno Has Urged United Group and BC Partners of the Risks Pursuing Acquisition of Vivacom Pending Final Judicial Determination". Bloomberg.com. 25 October 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  25. "UPDATE 1-United Group to buy Bulgaria's Vivacom in $1.3 bln deal". finance.yahoo.com. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  26. "Suning In Talks With BC Partners Over Inter Sale & Bain Capital For Loan, Italian Media Explain". SempreInter.com. 18 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  27. "BC Partners, Current Investments". Archived from the original on 18 February 2013.
  28. "BC Partners takes joint control of Italy's Fedrigoni in $3 billion deal". Reuters. 26 July 2022.
  29. Farr, Emma-Victoria (23 June 2022). "BC Partners acquires Havea for $1.16 bln -source". Reuters. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  30. "GFL Environmental Inc. announces $5.125 Billion recapitalization with new investors led by BC Partners and their partner OTPP".
  31. "KKR prodao većinski udeo Junajted grupe, SBB ima novog suvlasnika". b92.net (in Serbian). Beta. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  32. Kellaher, Colin (17 July 2018). "BC Partners to Acquire Compliance-Software Firm Navex Global". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  33. Del Rey, Jason (10 July 2017). "PetSmart is acquiring Chewy.com for $3.35 billion in the largest e-commerce acquisition ever". Vox. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  34. Aycock, Jason (4 November 2016). "CenturyLink has deal to sell data centers for near $2.3B". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  35. "BC Partners signs deal to buy Keter Plastic". Globes (in Hebrew). 28 July 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  36. "Elysium". 28 July 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  37. Ruckin, Claire (24 March 2014). "RLPC-BC Partners to buy majority stake in CarTrawler". Reuters. Archived from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  38. "BC Partners to acquire PetSmart for $8.7 billion" (Press release). Reuters. 14 December 2014.
  39. Chassany, Anne-Sylvaine; Mance, Henry (29 November 2013). "Pearson agrees to sell Mergermarket unit to BC Partners". Financial Times.
  40. "PE HUB » BC Partners, Carlyle Complete Hamilton Sundstrand Deal". PE HUB. 14 December 2012.
  41. Scott, Mark (19 July 2012). "Group Led by BC Partners to Buy U.S. Cable Operator for $6.6 Billion". The New York Times.
  42. Scott, Mark, and Emily Steel, "Altice's Deal to Buy Suddenlink May Be Prelude to Pursuit of Time Warner Cable", New York Times, May 20, 2015. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  43. "Retailer Phones 4u 'Forced Into Administration'". Sky News.
  44. "Phones4U closure". Evernote.
  45. "Exclusive: BC Partners to buy Com Hem in $2.6 billion deal". Reuters. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  46. Blackhurst, Chris (15 September 2012). "What Foxtons founder Jon Hunt did next..." Evening Standard. Hunt...sold the estate agencies chain for £370 million just weeks before the credit crunch hit and the property market slumped...His timing was brilliant.
  47. "Foxtons taken over by banks". The Daily Telegraph. London. 8 January 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
External links