SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) - Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC said on Thursday it had bought a stake in RAC Ltd, Britain's second largest roadside recovery firm, from private equity fund Carlyle Group LP (O:CG) for an undisclosed amount.
GIC did not specify the size of the stake it had bought, but said it and Carlyle will now jointly own a majority stake in RAC, with the company's management holding the remaining stake.
Carlyle Group bought RAC Ltd in 2011 for 1 billion pounds. A person familiar with the GIC transaction said RAC now had an enterprise value, including debt, of around 2 billion pounds.
"Both Carlyle and GIC believe that RAC has a clear strategy with significant growth potential," Andrew Burgess, a partner in Carlyle Group, said in a joint statement.
The stake sale to GIC now means Carlyle Group will hold off on an initial public offering for RAC Ltd for now, the statement added.
RAC is the modern incarnation of the Royal Automobile Club, an association that was founded in 1897. It has about 8 million members.
GIC's assets are estimated to be worth more than $300 billion.
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Rachel Armstrong in SINGAPORE, and Freya Berry in LONDON; Editing by Miral Fahmy)