Brookfield buys Hong Kong’s Trimco from Affinity – update
Tuesday, November 22, 2022
(AVCJ by Tim Burroughs) – Affinity Equity Partners has sold Hong Kong-headquartered garmentlabel manufacturer Trimco Group to Brookfield Asset Management, for anenterprise value of USD 850m.
The private equity firm has generated a 2.2x multiple and a 19% gross IRR on the investment,according to a source close to the situation. It acquired the business from Partners Group in2018, committing just under USD 200m in equity to a deal worth USD 520m. There was onedividend recap during the holding period.
Brookfield has become Trimco's fourth consecutive private equity owner in 17 years. NavisCapital Partners bought the company in 2005 for about USD 11m and secured a 10xreturn on selling to Partners Group in 2012. Partners Group reported a 3.4x return on exitingto Affnity.
Mergermarket, AVCJ’s sister title, reported in March that Affinity had initiated a sale process,targeting an EBITDA multiple of 10x-15x. It added that Trimco delivered USD 67m in EBITDAand USD 200m in revenue in 2021. The process was then put on hold in May amid marketuncertainty arising from pandemic-related lockdowns in China, Mergermarket reported.
