NEW YORK (Bloomberg) -- Ripplewood Holdings LLC, a buyout firm founded by former Lazard Freres banker Tim Collins, and MidOcean Partners LLP, a former Deutsche Bank AG unit, plan to merge and raise a fund to acquire companies around the world.

Collins, 47, and MidOcean's chief executive, Ted Virtue, 44, will be senior managing directors of the new firm, which will keep Ripplewood's name. Ripplewood, with offices in New York and Tokyo, manages $10 billion. MidOcean oversees $3 billion from New York and London.

"This combination will add a new player to the global major league," said Jeremy Coller, founder of Coller Capital Ltd., a London-based investor in MidOcean. Coller said he'll invest in the fund.

The enlarged Ripplewood will be one of a few buyout firms with managers in North America, Europe and Asia. Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world's biggest buyout fund, doesn't operate in Asia. London-based Permira Advisers Ltd., manager of Europe's largest buyout fund, focuses on its home region.

"More and more businesses are global, so the ability to look at transactions in the three major markets is a big benefit," MidOcean's Virtue said in an interview.

The merger will start when fundraising begins. Virtue declined to say when that would happen and how big the fund would be. The two firms will collaborate on takeovers until that happens, he said.

Then MidOcean, named after the MidOcean Golf Club where Virtue is a member, will become part of Ripplewood.

Ripplewood has focused mainly on investments in the U.S. and Japan, though earlier this month the company agreed to buy Akzo Nobel NV's phosphorous chemicals business in the Netherlands for 230 million ($271 million).

Shinsei Bank

In February, Ripplewood led a group that sold part of their stake in Japan's Shinsei Bank Ltd. through an initial public offering, reaping about 121 billion yen ($1.1 billion).

Ted Virtue led the purchase of Deutsche Bank's 1.5 billion- buyout unit last year with backing from investors including Coller Capital and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

The assets included stakes in about 80 companies including Center Parcs UK Group Plc, United Biscuits Group and Jefferson Smurfit Group Plc in Europe, as well as school yearbook publisher Jostens Inc. and weight-loss company Jenny Craig Inc. in the US.

Jostens and Center Parcs were among assets sold last year. The sale of Center Parcs for 285 million ($501 million) earned MidOcean more than four times the cost of its initial investment.