Blackstone opens proceedings today with a move to take London-listed property firm Industrials REIT private, before we take a brief look at some of the latest developments in other take-private bids by private equity companies in Europe.
Deals wise, we a move by Mayfair Equity Partners for a language services company, BC Partners buying into Greek education, a waste management purchase by Abris Capital Partners and an investment building temperature control by Ancala Partners
Property bid
Blackstone this morning announced that it had agreed terms on a final proposal for a cash offer with the board of Industrials REIT, a UK property company listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Shareholders would get 168p per ordinary share under the deal. That offers a premium of 42.4 percent to Industrials REIT’s closing share price of 118p at the end of last week, or 40.6 percent to the latest one-month volume weighted average share price of 119.5p. It would value the firm at about £500 million ($616 million; €569 million).
UPDATE: The total enterprise value of the offer, including debt, was £700 million, PE Hub Europe understands.
Industrials REIT has a portfolio of 1,801 units with annual gross rental income of £34 million and a gross value of £491.57 million.
Blackstone and Industrials REIT plan to announce a firm intention of an offer by 14 April 2023.
Take-private round-up
As I’ve been of for the last couple of Dealflows I’ll do a quick roundup on the latest of some of the other take-privates I’ve been following.
Mayfair Equity Partners has received acceptances of over 90 percent for its 30p per share offer for London-listed maternity wear chain Seraphine, meaning it can make a compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares.
Providence Equity Partners, which already agreed a 108p per share take-private with the board of conference organiser Hyve, has teamed up with Searchlight Capital Partners on the bid. Searchlight has agreed to take a 40 percent indirect equity interest in the Bidco for Hyve.
But M&G Investments, which is one of the largest shareholders in Hyve, told the Financial Times this morning that it would vote against the offer, saying it undervalues the company.
Language
Switching to signed deals now, and we have more to report from Mayfair Equity Partners. The private equity firm has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Jonckers, a global tech-enabled language services provider.
Jonckers is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
Mayfair will partner with management to accelerate growth, including the roll-out of Jonckers’ WordsOnline platform, bolt-on M&A, investment in technology, and market reach, according to a release.
“The language services industry is a highly fragmented and often analogue sector,” said Waqqas Ahmed, partner at Mayfair Equity Partners. “Jonckers is a digital champion, delivering rapid growth underpinned by increasing demand for hyper-localised content.”
Education
BC Partners has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Metropolitan College and AKMI IEK, providers of post-secondary education in Greece. No financial details of the transaction were disclosed.
IEK AKMI provides education and training in over 100 specialties across 14 fields.
Metropolitan College provides private education services and post-secondary education and training across 12 fields.
Konstantinos and Kalliopi Rodopoulos, the group’s founders, remain shareholders and will continue to support the business.
This transaction is the second of BC Partners GR Investment LP, a fund that seeks to invest in and support high growth companies in Greece.
Waste management
GreenGroup, backed by Abris Capital Partners, has acquired UAB Zalvaris, an industrial waste management company.
Zalvaris is based in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Zalvaris’ acquisition is part of GreenGroup’s new investment plan, totalling up to €200 million, focused on consolidating its market position in Central Europe via capex investments and bolt-on acquisitions, according to a release.
Abris acquired a majority stake in GreenGroup in 2016.
This deal follows GreenGroup’s acquisitions of SIGAD and UAB Ecso, the release added.
For more on private equity in central and eastern Europe, check out this recent outlook piece from PE Hub Europe.
Cooling
Finally, Ancala Partners has taken a majority stake in Noventa Energy Partners, a global renewable energy firm that provides services to decarbonise the heating and cooling of buildings. The firm has a pipeline of projects across the UK, Canada and the US.
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