Deal in Focus: EQT sells Bureau van Dijk to Moody's for €3bn

EQT divests from its €4.75bn fund EQT VI, which closed in October 2011 and is now fully invested. Two or three further exits are expected in 2017.

Under EQT's stewardship, Bureau van Dijk has grown significantly, reporting revenues of €258m and EBITDA of €132m in 2016. When EQT bought the company in 2014, EBITDA was estimated at €110m. The number of employees grew by approximately one third during this period.

This increase has been partly due to growth strategies initiated by EQT. Partner Kristiaan Nieuwenburg explains: "EQT helped the company strengthen its organisational structure and broaden the management team. Most of the new appointments were internal but the company also hired some external talent." He adds that EQT used an external adviser to streamline sales processes: "We went through a sales force effectiveness study with Bain & Company and set up a new sales structure with the newly appointed chief sales officer."

The data monetisation sector is one where EQT has made several investments, including in Springer Science and Sportradar. The GP stated it is usually attracted by the margins available in the sector, and in the case of Bureau van Dijk, saw significant growth potential.

The addition of Bureau van Dijk will offer a diversification of Moody's product offering, which has previously been debt-focused. Nieuwenburg says Moody's initiated the sale: "The original plan was to hold onto the business for five years and make sure all exit options were open to us. However, we were pleased to find a good long term home for the business and a deal that everyone was happy with."

Previous funding
In December 2004, Candover Capital Partners (now Arle Capital Partners) acquired Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing in a deal worth around €300m. Candover then sold the company to BC Partners in a transaction worth €735m in August 2007. Intermediate Capital Group provided the mezzanine facility and BC Partners injected €300m in equity capital.

The company was sold again in 2011 to Charterhouse Capital Partners for an enterprise value of €960m. This time senior debt was arranged by Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Nomura Securities.

EQT acquired the company from Charterhouse for an undisclosed price, thought to be around €1.6bn, in July 2014. This included a €845m debt package supplied by Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and ING, which comprised a €595m first lien, a €225m second lien and a €25m revolver. Swedish pension fund and investor in EQT Fund VI, Sjätte AP-fonden (AP6), made a 3% co-investment in the company in January 2015.

The original debt syndicate then arranged a €150m refinancing at Euribor +400 basis points to repay a portion of the €225m second lien facility. Deutsche Bank then led a second refinancing in February 2017 allocating a $55.2m term loan B add-on and repricing at par. This took senior leverage to 5.6x and refinanced the company's second lien debt.

Company
Amsterdam-based Bureau van Dijk was founded in 1991 and maintains and distributes a private company dataset, with coverage of more than 220 million companies. The firm has built partnerships with 160 independent information providers, creating a platform that connects customers with data, to address a wide range of business challenges.

The company employs around 750 people across 30 European offices and generated revenues of €258m and EBITDA of €132m in 2016.

People
EQT Partners – Kristiaan Nieuwenburg (partner).
Bureau van Dijk – Mark Schwerzel (deputy CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – Quayle Munro (legal); JP Morgan (corporate finance).

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