The potential sale of Perseus Books by Perseus, the US-based private equity manager, to a third party that is believed to be international publishers Hachette has fallen through, according to a source close to the process.
Talks had been ongoing to sell the publishing company but had wound up without a sale three weeks ago, the source said.
Hachette did not respond to requests for comment.
According to other sources, Perseus Books is the second most valuable asset in the manager’s five funds with an NAV of $70 million. Haggar, a men’s clothing maker, is the single most valuable asset in the Perseus portfolio with an NAV of $100 million.
A spokesman for Perseus said there had been no agreement to sell the company to any potential buyer.
Cogent Partners was enlisted at the beginning of this year to appraise five Perseus funds: Perseus Partners VII, Perseus Market Opportunity Fund, Perseus 2000, Perseus 2000 Expansion and Perseus Capital. Cogent was to value the NAV and tender a restructuring process.
Perseus last raised a fund in 2006, the $602.5 million Perseus Partners VII. According to documents from limited partner New Mexico Educational Retirement Board (NMERB), the fund recorded an IRR of -21.87 percent as of June last year.
LPs in the fund other than NMERB include Police & Fire Retirement System of the City of Detroit, the New York City Police Pension Fund and the University of California Retirement System.
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