Buyout firm Apax Partners has deployed two of the most controversial private equity practices of the boom-era, by taking out a covenant-lite loan on a portfolio company in order to pay itself a dividend.

Apax-owned Trader Media, which publishes Auto Trader, will take on £150m of additional debt to fund a dividend for the private equity firm. The new loan is the first covenant-lite package to be issued in Europe for four years, according to law firm Eversheds.