Good morning Eurohubsters, Craig McGlashan here with the Dealflow.
We’ll kick off today with the latest on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a story that we’re sure has a long way to run. Then we look at more evidence for a trend we’ve been seeing, that of recently listed companies going back to their former private equity owner. This time it’s Cinven looking to buy SYNLAB.
Next up, Irien Joseph has a fascinating interview with Jaroslava Korpanec, a partner at Actis Partners, as part of our series profiling senior women in private equity, and we have deals involving Main Capital and Vitruvian Partners. We then round out the newsletter with news of a consulting firm opening a London office.
Circling.
First up, a quick roundup of the latest on the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. We’ll be speaking to private equity dealmakers to find out the impact on their business and report back to you as we have it – email me at craig.m@pei.group if you’d like to share your thoughts.
In the meantime, our colleagues at affiliate title Buyouts report that the California Public Employees’ Retirement System might take advantage of the collapse of the bank to up its focus on direct investing and lending.
Elsewhere, after HSBC bought the bank’s UK operations for a pound yesterday, several news outlets are reporting that venture capital firms along with Apollo Global Management are considering bidding for parts of SVB. Here’s the Financial Times’ take on the rumours.
Re-privatisation.
We’ve been writing a fair amount about recently listed companies being taken back into private hands – often those of the previous owner.
That trend is accelerating, with SYNLAB, a European clinical laboratory and medical diagnostic services company, announcing yesterday that private equity firm Cinven had made an indicative offer price of €10 per share for the company.
Cinven already holds 43 percent of the company but is looking to acquire up to 100 percent of the shares.
Cinven had acquired Germany-based SYNLAB and French medical diagnostics provider Labco for a combined enterprise value of €2.9 billion in 2015. After merging the firms, Cinven and co-investors Novo Holdings and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board grew the company organically and via more than 100 add-ons, before listing it on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in April 2021 for €18 per share, an implied market capitalisation of €4 billion and implied enterprise value of €5.9 billion.
SYNLAB traded above its IPO price for much of 2021 and around that price for the first half of 2022, before its share price began declining to start the year around €11. It had dropped to just below €7 before the Cinven offer announcement.
For more on recently listed companies being subject to take-private bids, check out our coverage and analysis of Mayfair Equity Partners’ move for maternity wear company Seraphine.
We’ve also been trying to think a pithier name than ‘re-privatisation’ for this trend. Send your suggestions over to me at craig.m@pei.group
Retention.
One theme we’ve seen in our series of interviews with senior women in private equity to mark International Women’s Day last week, is that while private equity firms have been doing a good job on hiring women, there is still work to be done on retention.
That trend came through again in our latest article, in which Irien Joseph interviewed Jaroslava Korpanec, partner and head of Central and Eastern Europe, energy infrastructure at Actis Partners.
“It is crucial that we retain more females because of the diversity of perspectives they offer and the efficiency that they’re bringing into the business,” she told Irien.
Korpanec also had this bit of advice.
“Don’t be scared to be different, don’t be scared when people say no, or where you have a lot of barriers being put up.” A career in investment, according to her, requires resilience and tenacity as you must be prepared to back your findings and analyses, withstand criticism and challenges, and defend your investment theses.
Lastly, she believes: “If you have done the work, if you have committed, you have a right to succeed just like everyone else.”
Check out the full interview for more on Korpanec’s career and her advice on investing.
Construction software.
Switching to deals now, and Pro4all, backed by Main Capital Partners, has acquired PMG, a software provider for the construction and real estate industry.
PMG is headquartered in Munich, Germany.
Pro4all and PMG’s merger will create a diversified customer base of over 1,000 construction and real estate stakeholders, according to a release.
Holiday package.
Travel Counsellors, backed by Vitruvian Partners, has acquired Holidaysplease, an online travel company.
Holidaysplease is headquartered in Birmingham, UK. The firm recorded total transaction value of over £40 million in 2022.
Check out more on that deal here.
London move.
Stax, a global strategy consulting firm that works on commercial due diligence, value creation and exit planning for private equity firms, hedge funds and investment banks, has opened a new London office in Farringdon. It will serve as the firm’s European base of operations and follows the company’s acquisition of London-based strategy consulting firm AMR International in 2022.
“The office expansion follows on the heels of our own private equity clients who have expanded or established new operations in London over the last year, and as the private equity ecosystem in EMEA has seen significant growth recently,” said Paul Edwards, senior managing director. “Indeed, our European private equity engagements have more than doubled and this move will support the increased client demand and interest we are seeing in our unique, data-driven offerings.”
We’ve certainly seen plenty of the London expansion that Edwards mentioned. Thoma Bravo’s new London team recently completed its first deal, for instance, while US-based One Rock Capital also opened a London office.
That’s all from me today – I’ll be back with you tomorrow.
Cheers,
Craig
If you do not receive this within five minutes, please try to sign in again. If the problem persists, please email: 
