Australian buyout firm invests in US share registry

NEW YORK, May 29 (Reuters) - Australian private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners said on Thursday it would invest in U.S. share registry American Stock Transfer & Trust.

A source familiar with the situation said the investment size was close to $1 billion.

AST, which competes against companies like Computershare, was founded in 1971 by brothers Michael and George Karfunkel.

Pacific Equity Partners said it has 10 businesses with specialist operations in share registry services. The buyout firm's PEP Fund IV is the largest in Australia with over $6 billion under management, the company said in a statement.

(Reporting by Megan Davies, editing by Richard Chang)