Nordic Capital agrees Macrobond exit to Francisco Partners; EQT ends Alfa Financial pursuit

Fintech is the theme of the day, as well as companies shifting between private equity firms.

First up, Nordic Capital is selling financial data provider Macrobond to Francisco Partners. We then find out the latest on EQT’s take-private pursuit of Alfa Financial Software.

Sticking with take-privates, we look at IK Partners’ bid for Medica Group, before we have another exit to a private equity firm in the shape of Providence Equity Partners agreeing to buy d&b Group from Ardian.

Data

Nordic Capital has agreed to sell Macrobond, a software and macroeconomic and financial data provider, to Francisco Partners.

Macrobond was founded in 2008 in Malmö, Sweden and Nordic bought it in 2018. It has further offices in Europe, North America and Asia. During Nordic’s ownership, it more than tripled its annual contract value (ACV) and had ACV growth of 34 percent in the last 12 months, according to a statement.

Macrobond is valued at nearly €700 million in the deal, giving Nordic a return of about 6x, according to people familiar with the matter spoken to by the Financial Times.

Private equity firms have been busy in the financial data sector lately. Last month, Astorg completed the demerger of Fastmarkets, a price reporting agency for the metals, mining, forest products, energy transition and agriculture markets, from Delinian. Astorg and Epiris acquired Delinian – then named Euromoney Institutional Investor – in a take-private deal last year.

No-go

EQT has decided against making an offer for listed UK-headquartered Alfa Financial Software, a provider of software to auto, equipment and wholesale finance businesses, the private equity firm announced on Friday afternoon.

EQT’s most recent proposal was for 208p per Alfa share, which valued the total outstanding equity at around £615 million ($788 million; €719 million).

Wrapped up

One take-private deal that has reached completion however is IK Partners’ pursuit of Medica Group, a UK-based healthcare services provider with operations in Ireland and the US as well as its home country.

Private equity firm IK agreed an offer of 212p per share, which valued the entire share capital of Medica at around £269 million, back in April.

Sounding out

Providence Equity Partners has agreed to acquire a majority interest in d&b Group, a provider of professional audio technology and end-to-end audio, video, light and media services for live entertainment, from Ardian.

d&b is headquartered in Backnang, Germany. The company operates through d&b audiotechnik, a provider of audio systems for installation projects and rentals, and d&b solutions, a provider of service products across audio, video, lighting, and extended reality.

d&b’s existing management team will reinvest and will continue to lead day-to-day operations following completion of the deal.

“The needs of customers in live entertainment are becoming ever more complex, which has expanded d&b’s addressable opportunities,” said Andrew Tisdale, senior MD at Providence. “We were impressed by d&b’s passionate management team and, with Providence’s resources and network, we are committed to supporting d&b’s strategic plan.”

Ardian acquired D&B audiotechnik in 2016.

Health work

We’ve got one more private equity to private equity deal to report.

Fremman Capital has bought UK-based Medinet from Volpi Capital, according to a Financial Times report.

Medinet is an agency that employs NHS doctors and nurses outside their contracted hours.