Oakley Capital acquisition of Casa.it & atHome.lu

Oakley Capital acquisition of Casa.it & atHome.lu

Oakley Capital Private Equity III (“Fund III”) has agreed to acquire a portfolio of European real estate websites including Casa.it in Italy and atHome.lu in Luxembourg (collectively “the business”). Oakley is backing the existing management team to acquire the business in a carve-out from its parent company, REA Group (ASX:REA).

oakleycapital

The transaction builds on Oakley’s experience in the online consumer sector through its previous investments in Facile.it, Parship Elite Group and Verivox.de. Oakley is attracted to these business models because of the strong underlying structural market growth in these segments, their asset-light nature which leads to strong cash conversion, and the ability to accelerate performance through effective KPI management, especially around marketing.

Established in 1996, Casa.it is the number two player in the online real estate advertising market in Italy. The Italian residential property market is estimated to be worth over €75 billion annually, and the penetration of online property portals is expected to grow strongly as the market develops.

Established in 2001, atHome.lu has established a market leading position in the online real estate advertising market in Luxembourg, with over 90% coverage of real estate agents.

Both Casa.it and atHome.lu are well-positioned to replicate the success of leading property portal players in more mature markets such as the UK, Germany and Australia. Under the new ownership structure, the acquired businesses will be integrated more closely to achieve synergies and Oakley will use its experience in similar online business models to improve marketing efficiency and operating performance.

As a subsidiary of REA Group, the business generated revenues of €33.3 million and reported EBITDA of €6.0 million for the year ended 30 June 2016. Fund III intends to partly fund the acquisition with third party debt.

Mediobanca acted as financial advisor to Fund III on the transaction. Completion is expected to take place in Q1 2017.

Categories: News

Tags:

Norvestor invests in IT Gården

Norvestor

Norvestor VIIL.P.(“Norvestor”), a fund managed by Norvestor Equity AS, has signed an agreement to invest in IT Gården i Landskrona AB(“IT Gården”)

IT Gården has experienced solid growth over the last yearsand established an attractive position
as a leading regional IT services outsourcing provider in the Skåne region in Sweden. The company delivers IT services within IT outsourcing and infrastructure, virtualisation and client platforms as well as related products.

“IT Gården has since its inception focused on delivering superior customer experience and efficient IT solutions.
Over the last couple of years, we have been searching for a partner that shares our vision of putting the customer experience first. In Norvestor we have found a partner that truly understands our business and that can help us, both to expand geographically but also to explore new business opportunities.
We are extremely happy about this new partnership and we are confident that it will allow us to deliver an even better customer experience in the future”, says Jan Swedin, CEO of IT Gården. “We have followed the market for outsourcing of IT services for several years, and are very pleased with the agreement to partner with IT Gården.

The company has established a unique position within IT outsourcing for small and medium-
sized enterprises in Southern Sweden. We see a significant potential for continued growth for the company, in addition to several consolidation possibilities in a fragmented IT outsourcing market, making it an ideal platform for Norvestor.”,
says Henning Vold,Partner at Norvestor Equity and chairman designate in IT Gården.
Following the acquisition, Norvestor will become the largest shareholder in IT Gården with approximately 77
% of the shares; the management and employees will hold the remaining shares.

IT Gården is headquartered in Landskrona, Sweden, and employs 90 people.
The company had consolidated revenues of NOK 179 million in 2015 1 and NOK 197 millionin 2016¹.
***
1 IT Gården’s financial year ends in June

Categories: News

Tags:

Lonza to Acquire Capsugel to Create Leading Integrated Solutions Provider to the Global Pharma and Consumer Healthcare Industries

Strategic Advantages

  • Lonza to acquire Capsugel for USD 5.5 billion, including refinancing of existing Capsugel debt of USD ~2 billion
  • Acquisition is expected to accelerate Lonza’s growth and ability to deliver value along the healthcare continuum
  • Acquisition addresses needs of customers for integrated, value-added solutions that accelerate drug and ingredient delivery to patients and consumers
  • The combined portfolio offering will position Lonza as the development, formulation, delivery technology and manufacturing partner of choice for the pharma industry
  • Lonza will become a fully integrated solutions provider in oral delivery technologies and active ingredients to the consumer healthcare and nutrition markets

Financial Advantages

  • Lonza expects to achieve CHF ~30 million p.a. operating synergies and CHF ~15 million tax synergies p.a. by year three and CHF ~100 million p.a. top-line synergies in the mid- to long-term
  • Transaction is expected to be CORE EPS accretive in the first full year post closing
  • Capsugel’s profitable business model and robust cash generation expected to further enhance Lonza’s strong financial profile
  • Lonza intends to retain current dividend policy and maintain ~3x net debt/EBITDA leverage

Lonza Group AG (“Lonza,” VTX: LONN.VX), KKR and Capsugel S.A. (“Capsugel”) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Lonza will acquire Capsugel from KKR for USD 5.5 billion in cash, including refinancing of existing Capsugel debt of approximately USD 2 billion, through a transaction that has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both Lonza and Capsugel. The transaction will be financed with a combination of debt and equity financing. The EV/adjusted EBITDA multiple for the transaction adds up to 15.1x based on the last 12 months adjusted EBITDA figures up to September 2016.

This acquisition is fully in line with Lonza’s stated strategy to accelerate growth and deliver value along the healthcare continuum by complementing its existing offerings and by opening up new market opportunities in the pharma and consumer healthcare and nutrition industries. With the acquisition of Capsugel, Lonza will add a trusted brand with a large breadth of technologies and will expand the market reach of its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) and products businesses. It will also support Lonza’s strategic ambition of getting closer to the patient and end consumer.

The acquisition is designed to create a leading integrated, value-added solutions provider in drug development, formulation, delivery technologies and manufacturing for the global pharma and consumer healthcare industries. The combined business will be well positioned to benefit from the dynamics in these industries and to anticipate and address technology trends in order to support the evolving needs of its customers. It will provide additional value by offering an integrated portfolio of industry-leading technologies, from active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) through excipients to dosage forms and delivery technologies.

With the addition of Capsugel’s world-leading advanced oral dosage delivery technologies, including its leading position in hard capsule technologies, Lonza will become the partner of choice for its pharma customers along the entire value chain. The combined technologies and offerings will provide customers innovative solutions in both large and small molecules and solidify Lonza’s position as the partner best able to support the pharma industry by bringing new, differentiated medicines to market rapidly and efficiently.

In addition, the acquisition is expected to strengthen Lonza’s position in consumer healthcare and nutrition as Lonza becomes a fully integrated and innovative service provider of active ingredients, oral dosage forms, development services and delivery technologies. As a result Lonza will be well positioned to meet the increasing need for optimized consumer health and nutrition through a wide offering of next-generation dosage forms. The combined business will also be able to leverage its bioavailability technology to create a new dietary ingredient-ready offering, as well as capitalize on its formulation expertise to develop new ingredients and to market new combination products.

The enlarged business would have had combined 2015 revenues of approximately CHF 4.8 billion and adjusted EBITDA of approximately CHF 1.1 billion with an enhanced margin profile. Lonza and Capsugel’s highly synergistic customer base and complementary business models will facilitate seamless integration. The combined business will be able to leverage the strong regulatory track record and global footprint of each company.

With approximately 3,600 employees and 13 facilities on three continents, Capsugel has a customer-centric, entrepreneurial and collaborative culture that closely aligns with Lonza’s corporate culture. Both companies focus on quality, operational excellence and delivering on promises.

Richard Ridinger, Chief Executive Officer of Lonza, commented, “The acquisition of Capsugel meets Lonza’s strategic and financial goals. It accelerates our healthcare continuum strategy by giving us broader exposure to the fast-growing pharma and consumer healthcare markets. We expect the transaction to be accretive to our core earnings per share in the first full year post closing.”

He explained further, “This new integrated approach will benefit our customers, who will gain from the simplicity and efficiency of working with one company that can provide world-leading support from APIs to excipients and dosage forms. The combined business will allow us to partner with our customers to help them bring highly differentiated products to market more quickly and efficiently.”

Guido Driesen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Capsugel, said, “This transaction brings together two leading companies that share a common vision – to deliver real value to customers by accelerating their ability to develop and commercialize innovative pharmaceutical and healthcare products. The combination of our complementary technology platforms will put us in a strong position to benefit from evolving trends in the pharma and consumer healthcare markets.”

He added, “Both companies enjoy a strong quality and regulatory track record, and we believe that the combination enables us to provide the most complete set of tailored and integrated solutions for our customers. We look forward to bringing together our talented teams to deliver science- and engineering-based solutions to customers for the benefit of the patients and consumers who use their products. I am personally committed to making this integration a success.”

Pete Stavros, Member of KKR and Head of the Industrials Investing Team, said, “Since acquiring Capsugel five years ago, we have supported Guido and his management team in repositioning the company from a global leader in hard capsules into a specialty CDMO. Capsugel has grown significantly by investing in innovation, strategic acquisitions, product development and geographic expansion. Now Capsugel is well positioned for the next phase of its growth, and we look forward to its continued success as a part of Lonza.”

Synergies

The bulk of the benefits resulting from the transaction will be gained from positive top-line and innovation synergies. The highly synergistic customer base, the expanded addressable market and the improved value proposition for the customer will allow Lonza to further leverage its current product and service offerings. Also the acquisition of Capsugel will allow cross-selling of existing products, combine manufacturing solutions and services and create an integrated value offering that merges Lonza’s ingredients with Capsugel’s dosage forms.

The primary initial focus of this transaction is to ensure a seamless integration while continuing the strong growth trajectory of the Capsugel business. Lonza believes that the step-by-step integration will preserve the strong innovation culture and lead to a combined top-line synergy potential of around CHF 100 million per annum in the mid- to long-term.

Lonza expects to achieve operating synergies of CHF ~30 million per annum, which are expected to be fully realized by year three, in the areas of corporate, procurement and IT, as well as various efficiency gains. In addition, tax synergies of CHF ~15 million per annum are expected.

Lonza anticipates that the transaction will be accretive to its CORE Earnings per Share (EPS) from the first full year post closing onwards and intends to retain its current dividend policy.

Financing and Approvals

The USD 5.5 billion all-cash acquisition of Capsugel will be financed with a combination of debt and equity financing. Lonza has committed debt financing for the full acquisition amount from BofA Merrill Lynch and UBS and plans to raise equity, which is fully underwritten by UBS and BofA Merrill Lynch for an amount up to CHF 3.3 billion.

Lonza’s Board of Directors is currently authorized to increase the share capital through the issuance of 5,000,000 fully paid-in registered shares. Lonza’s Board intends to seek approval for additional share capital at its upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) in April 2017.

Lonza expects to retain a leverage profile around ~3x net debt/EBITDA at closing and to maintain its unofficial investment-grade credit profile assigned by a number of Swiss banks. Lonza believes that the strong projected cash flow of the combined company will enable rapid de-leveraging after the acquisition and continue to support all planned growth initiatives.

The financial package foresees the refinancing of Lonza’s current CHF 700 million revolving credit facility.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017 and is subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Additional information about Lonza can be found on www.lonza.com, about Capsugel on www.capsugel.com, and about the acquisition on the dedicated transaction website www.TheFutureLonza.com, which may be updated from time to time.

Jefferies LLC is serving as lead financial adviser to Lonza. UBS AG and BofA Merrill Lynch also provided financial advice. Jenner & Block LLP is serving as Lonza’s legal counsel. Goldman Sachs is serving as sole financial adviser to Capsugel. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as Capsugel’s legal counsel.

About Lonza

Lonza is one of the world’s leading and most-trusted suppliers to the pharmaceutical, biotech and specialty ingredients markets. We harness science and technology to create products that support safer and healthier living and that enhance the overall quality of life.

Not only are we a custom manufacturer and developer, Lonza also offers services and products ranging from active pharmaceutical ingredients and stem-cell therapies to drinking water sanitizers, from the vitamin B3 compounds and personal care ingredients to agricultural products, and from industrial preservatives to microbial control solutions that combat dangerous viruses, bacteria and other pathogens.

Founded in 1897 in the Swiss Alps, Lonza today is a well-respected global company with more than 40 major manufacturing and R&D facilities and approximately 9,800 full-time employees worldwide. The company generated sales of CHF 3.8 billion in 2015 and is organized into two market-focused segments: Pharma&Biotech and Specialty Ingredients.

Further information can be found at www.lonza.com.

Lonza Contact Information

Categories: News

Tags:

Sale of SWP Holdings Inc. (the holding company of Socie World Co., Ltd.)

Polaris

Polaris Capital Group Co., Ltd.

December 8, 2016

Sale of SWP Holdings Inc. (the holding company of Socie World Co., Ltd.)

Polaris Private Equity Fund III (“Polaris Fund III”), managed by Polaris Capital Group Co., Ltd. (“Polaris”), has agreed with Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (“IMH”) on the sale of all of the shares of SWP Holdings Inc. (“SWP”) (with 100% of the voting rights) owned by Polaris Fund III and other shareholder to IMH and signed Share Purchase Agreement today. SWP owns 100% of Socie World Co., Ltd, (“Socie”). Socie operates aesthetic salons for middle to high-end female customers as well as hair salons, eye lash salons and sports clubs and enjoys strong brand recognition as a company with a longer than 50 year history. Benefiting from such brand name, Socie has opened its aesthetic salons in high-class department stores and luxury hotels and as a result secured a very solid business model with loyal and affluent customer base. On the overseas front, Socie was the first in the industry to open a shop outside of Japan and has succeeded in establishing a strong operation in Taiwan. By applying the success formula in Taiwan to other markets (including China where a franchise system hasrecently been implemented),

Socie is expected to achieve a further growth in the global market.

Polaris has decided to proceed with the sale since, as a member of IMH group, Socie is expected to enjoy various synergy effects such as brand enhancement, an access to IMH’s affluent customer base and shop opening at IMH’s department stores in prime locations in Japan and overseas, which would lead to a higher corporate value.

The share transfer is expected to be completed on January 12, 2017.

For inquires:

Susumu Sekihata

Partner

Polaris Capital Group Co., Ltd.

Phone: 813-5223-6727

 

Categories: News

Tags: