Hundreds of staff at the management consultancy firm PA Consulting are set for substantial payouts as part of a £350m refinancing deal.
Carlyle, the buyout firm which took a majority stake in PA Consulting three years ago, is close to appointing investment bankers to work on the plan.
The refinancing will deliver windfalls to more than 1,000 employee shareholders, as well as a big dividend to Carlyle, according to insiders.
While the size of the payouts is unclear, one source said that they had been facilitated by substantial growth in revenue and profitability since the 2015 buyout.
Bankers have been instructed to focus on improving PA Consulting's capital structure by refinancing existing debt including vendor loan notes put in place at the point that Carlyle took control.
PA employs about 2,600 specialists in sectors including consumer, defence and security, energy and utilities, financial services and healthcare.
The company recently bought Sparkler, a digital insight and strategy consultancy which works with clients such as Diageo, eBay and J Sainsbury.
It also announced an £850m deal with Pension Insurance Corporation to offload its pension liabilities, clearing the way for the refinancing process now underway.
Until April this year, PA was chaired by Marcus Agius, the former Barclays chairman.
Sourced from Sky News - written by MArk Kleinman