Hg’s Change of Tack on Iris Sale Disappoints Direct Lenders

Private equity firm Hg’s last-minute decision to sell a stake in Iris Software to Leonard Green & Partners is set to leave lenders disappointed as the new deal doesn’t require much new financing, according to people familiar with the matter.

Hg ultimately decided to finalize a deal with Leonard Green following some last-minute disagreements with previous frontrunner KKR over the terms of the transaction, as previously reported by Bloomberg News.

Direct lenders had been in poll position to finance KKR’s version of the deal, which was set to rank as one the biggest buyouts of a private European software company ...