(Reuters) -European buyout firm PAI Partners has raised 3.6 billion euros ($4.22 billion) worth of equity for the Froneri business, its ice cream venture with Nestle, it said on Thursday.
As part of the transaction, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and a new single-asset continuation vehicle led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives are to become new shareholders of Froneri.
Continuation vehicles have become a popular new tool for private equity firms to keep assets longer than the life of the funds they originally bought the asset with.
Typically private equity would keep assets for 3-5 years before selling or floating them but difficult M&A and public markets have led to funds keeping hold of assets longer.
Goldman Sachs was reported in August to be willing to buy into ice cream maker Froneri at a 15 billion euro valuation including debt.
($1 = 0.8521 euros)
(Reporting by Rhea Rose Abraham in Bengaluru, Tristan Veyet in Gdansk, Anousha Sakoui in London; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Tomasz Janowski and Helen Reid)
