Bidders Cool On Parques Reunidos As Deadline Passes - Sources

Candover Investments PLC (CDI.LN) on Friday closed a new deadline for the sale of the Spanish theme park Parques Reunidos, as it seeks to warm up a process that has been on ice throughout the summer.

But with only one firm bidder, the process may not meet Candover's expectations on price, people familiar with the matter said.

Candover, the troubled U.K.-based private equity fund that is in wind-down mode after failing to reach agreement with a potential buyer, bought Parques Reunidos--which runs a number of amusement and theme parks in Europe and the U.S.-- for EUR900 million at the height of the buyout boom, but postponed the sale earlier this year.

According to earlier reports, Candover was initially hoping to raise up to EUR2 billion from the sale or IPO of Parques Reunidos.

After initially hiring JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Credit Suisse Group (CS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) to initiate an IPO, the buyout firm also launched an auction process but put this on hold to see if Parques Reunidos met budget targets in Spain's sticky economic environment.

Although an IPO hasn't been totally ruled out, bankers say it would be almost impossible to float the company under current market conditions in Spain and that a sale to private equity or a refinancing remain the most likely options.

Candover and Morgan Stanley (MS), acting as its sole adviser, had restarted the sale timetable, which was originally halted in July, and asked interested parties to submit offers by Oct. 15, people familiar with the matter said.

Carlyle Group L.P. and Advent International Corp. have teamed up to bid for the company, and submitted an offer by that deadline. Providence Equity Partners were initially looking at the company but have dropped out, one person familiar with the matter said.

It is unclear whether Apollo Management, also previously interested, submitted a bid by the deadline.

Candover was one of the first and most well-known buyout firms to suffer when the financial crisis hit as cash-strapped investors were unable to honor fund commitments and frozen M&A markets held no promise of distributions from asset sales for some time.

Candover Investments PLC (CDI.LN), the buyout firm's single largest investor, was unable to meet its EUR1 billion commitment to the Candover's EUR3 billion 2008 fund, putting Candover's future in doubt and leading to various takeover approaches.

The most recent, from Canadian pension fund Alberta Investment Management Co., or Aimco, broke down in July after some Candover bond-holders failed to agree terms on their bonds with Aimco on the change of control which would be triggered by a takeover.

As a result, Candover will no longer make new investments and is instead focused on selling off existing assets. Already in July, the private equity firm sold nappy maker Ontex to TPG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) in a deal worth around EUR1.2 billion, netting the listed company some EUR12.1 million.

Other investments, apart from Parques Reunidos, include U.K. oil company Expro International and Swedish bedding manufacturer Hilding Anders.

-By Jessica Hodgson, Christopher Bjork and Marietta Cauchi; Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail].