GE Antares, a unit of GE Capital, announced it is administrative agent on a $260 million senior secured credit facility to support the acquisition of Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) by Vestar Capital Partners. GE Capital Markets served as joint lead arranger and joint bookrunner on this facility.

Headquartered in New York, NY, ISS is the leading global provider of corporate governance solutions for asset managers, asset owners, and corporations, employing approximately 700 people globally with 15 offices in ten countries.

“GE Antares did an outstanding job executing this first and second lien financing,” said Andy Cavanna, managing director of Vestar Capital Partners, “We knew GE would be an excellent financing partner for ISS given their capital markets expertise as well as their institutional experience in corporate governance.”

“We’re excited to support Vestar’s acquisition of ISS. Vestar takes a real partnership approach with management operating their companies as well as with their financing partners,” said Douglas Cannaliato, managing director of GE Antares. “I am looking forward to continuing to support Vestar and management as they execute on their strategic initiatives.”

ISS, founded in 1985 as Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., is the world's leading provider of proxy advisory and corporate governance solutions to financial market participants. ISS' services include objective proxy research and analysis, end-to-end proxy voting and distribution solutions, turnkey securities class-action claims management, and reliable governance data and modeling tools. Clients rely on ISS' expertise to help them make informed corporate governance decisions.

Vestar Capital Partners is a leading U.S. middle-market private equity firm specializing in management buyouts and growth capital investments. Vestar invests and collaborates with incumbent management teams and private owners in a creative, flexible and entrepreneurial way to build long-term enterprise value.

Vestar is targeting equity investments in the range of $50 million to $150 million in U.S. based middle-market companies with enterprise values ranging from $250 million to $1 billion. Vestar has extensive experience investing across a wide variety of industries including Financial Services, Information Services, Consumer, Healthcare, Digital Media and Diversified Industries.