The chairman of private equity firm HgCapital has talked of a ‘buyer’s market’ for investors as the firm completes its current round of exits.

The chairman of private equity firm HgCapital has talked of a ‘buyer’s market’ for investors as the firm announces the last in its current round of exits.

The sale of payment processing specialist Orbiscom to MasterCard for about $100 million (£69 million) completes a round of exits for HgCapital which began in June 2005. Since then the firm has sold 30 portfolio companies at an average multiple of 2.7 times the cost of the original investments.

Chairman Ian Armitage comments, ‘Orbiscom was one of a number of technology investments we made after the collapse of the technology boom in 2001 and 2002, which have proved extremely successful overall.’

He adds, ‘We appear to be entering a buyers’ market for corporate assets once more, with valuations at a 20-year low.’

The private equity firm, which was bought out from Merrill Lynch in 2000, manages assets of €2 billion (£1.9 billion).