The theme of private equity companies making moves for listed firms is growing stronger by the day, with another two of those to report for you this morning. IK Partners has agreed an all-cash offer for a UK-based telemedicine and teleradiology provider, while Silver Lake is at a similar stage with a Germany enterprise software company.
On the deep-dive front, Nina Lindholm talks to Nordic Capital about the firm’s planned investment in a medical product developer, while Irien Joseph provides a round-up of the med-tech deals we’ve covered so far this year.
We then have a financial services investment by Charterhouse, a play in risk management by Phoenix, a joint venture between PAI Partners and Nestlé and an exit from an automotive ecommerce firm by EQT.
Teleradiology
A wave of take-private attempts by private equity companies shows no sign of slowing down.
IK Partners has agreed a recommended all-cash offer for Medica, an international provider of telemedicine services and a provider of teleradiology in the UK and Ireland, the firms announced this morning.
The offer is for £2.12 per share, which would value the entire share capital of Medica at around £269 million ($334 million; €304 million). The offer is a premium of 32.5 percent to Medica’s closing price at the end of last week, 32.4 percent for the volume-weighted average price over the last three months and 50 percent to the average over the last six months.
IK has received irrevocable undertakings for around 20 percent of Medica’s shares.
Medica is headquartered in Hastings, England, but has operations in the UK, Ireland, the US and Australia.
Enterprising
Elsewhere in take-privates, Darmstadt, Germany-headquartered enterprise software and technology company Software AG has agreed an investment from private equity firm Silver Lake.
Silver Lake will offer all Software AG shareholders €30 per share, which the firms said was a premium of 53 percent to the closing price on 20 April – the day before the decision was announced – and 48 percent to the three-month volume-weighted average share price. It would give an equity value of around €2.2 billion.
The offer has an acceptance threshold of 50 percent plus one share.
The Software AG Foundation said it fully supports the offer and has agreed to sell 25.1 percent of all shares to Silver Lake. It will retain 5 percent of Software AG’s shares, which are subject to a lockup.
The investment aims to help Software AG focus its business on cloud application and data integration and shift to be a software-as-a-service-first company.
Silver Lake first signed a partnership with Software AG in 2021, when Silver Lake invested €344 million in the firm.
For more on why private equity firms are so interested in enterprise software firms, head on over to PE Hub and check out Obey Martin Manayiti’s feature on the trend.
Resuscitation
Switching back to healthcare, and PE Hub Europe’s Nina Lindholm has an in-depth interview with Jonas Agnblad, partner at Nordic Capital, about the private equity company’s move for corpuls, a developer of medical products, including advanced life support defibrillators and monitoring devices, automated external defibrillators and chest compression devices.
“Medtech is an interesting area to invest in,” said Agnblad. “There’s room for outsized growth driven by the high general pace of innovation.”
Technology that reduces the need for patients to attend clinics, such as remote monitoring or superior diagnostic tools, are some key focus areas that Nordic Capital has identified. “These allow for earlier diagnosis and treatment, increasing the chances of survival for the patient,” Agnblad added.
Nordic Capital isn’t alone in its interest in the sector. According to a Bain & Co report, medtech deals did “return to earth” in 2022, following a record breaking 2021. By the end of 2022, however, medical technology deal activity bounced back. During the year, nine of the 10 largest deals went to device original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
Check out the full interview for more on Nordic’s plans for corpuls.
And if you want even more med-tech coverage, then Irien Joseph has published a listicle this morning outlining some of the many deals we’ve covered so far this year.
Forestry
Charterhouse Capital Partners has entered into an agreement to invest in France Valley, an alternative asset manager in forestry and real assets.
France Valley has assets worth €4 billion under management and is based in Paris.
Charterhouse is investing alongside France Valley’s founders, Guillaume Toussaint and Arnaud Filhol, and the entire management team.
Charterhouse’s investment will support France Valley in geographic expansion, the launch of new products in the growing ESG investment space and selective external growth operations, according to a release.
Risk
Phoenix Equity Partners has made a majority investment in 4most Analytics Consulting, a provider of risk analytics and modelling products to banks and insurers.
4most is headquartered in London.
4most has delivered revenue growth of more than 30 percent year-on-year since 2020 and is expected to deliver £10 million (€11.32 million; $12.44 million) EBITDA in 2023.
Pizza the deal
Nestlé and PAI Partners, via its PAI Mid-Market Fund (PAI MMF), have agreed to set up a joint venture for Nestlé’s frozen pizza business in Europe.
Nestlé’s pizza business has an annual turnover of around SFr400 million (€407.9 million; $447.8 million).
The new business will be headquartered in Germany and will operate two manufacturing facilities, in Nonnweiler, Germany and Benevento, Italy.
PAI and Nestlé will have equal non-controlling stakes with equal voting rights.
For more private equity deals in the food sector, read Irien Joseph’s round-up from a few weeks ago.
Spare parts
EQT Private Equity has sold kfzteile24 to an investment consortium consisting of the company’s management, Project A Ventures, Koehler Group, and a group of technology investors (SB21).
kfzteile24 is an ecommerce platform for automotive spare parts and accessories in Germany. The company is headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
The transaction was completed on 20 April.
EQT Private Equity, via EQT Mid-Market fund, invested in kfzteile24 in October 2015.
kfzteile24 made substantial investments in its digital platform and logistics infrastructure during EQT’s ownership, according to a release.
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