M&A

29 October, 2009

Hedge fund Och-Ziff buyer of TPG's Debenhams stake

LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Hedge fund Och-Ziff (OZM.N) has emerged as the buyer of TPG's [TPG.UL] stake in British department store chain Debenhams PLC (DEB.L) after the U.S. buyout firm made its exit from the business earlier this week.

Och-Ziff, one of the world's largest hedge fund managers, said in a regulatory filing on Thursday it now owns 11.52 percent of Debenhams. The fund is also a shareholder in Peacocks, the British privately owned budget retail chain.

TPG sold its entire stake of more than 120 million shares -- about 9 percent of Debenhams stock -- earlier this week to a single unnamed hedge fund, a source said, netting the firm almost 100 million pounds ($164.4 million) and marking its exit from the business it refloated in 2006. [ID:nLS81759]

Prior to the transaction, Och-Ziff held some 18 million shares indirectly in Debenhams, according to the filing.

Och-Ziff declined to comment.

($1=.6081 Pound) (Reporting by Simon Meads; editing by Simon Jessop) (simon.meads@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 9969; Reuters Messaging: simon.meads.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.com))

Source: http://www.reuters.com