Bencis sells TBAuctions in SBO to Castik

Wahida Ahmed
26 November 2021

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Bencis Capital Partners has sold Netherlands-headquartered online auction house TBAuctions to Castik Capital.

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket reported in August 2021 that Bencis had placed TBAuctions up for sale, with the company to be marketed based on EBITDA of more than EUR 16m. It further reported that in 2020, TBAuctions generated around EUR 13m in EBITDA and around EUR 70m in revenues.

During the second round of bidding in October, Unquote sister publication Debtwire reported that banks and debt funds were offering leverage in the 5x-6x range. Some direct lenders offered up to EUR 100m of debt, though the majority offered EUR 85m-90m, according to Debtwire.

Debtwire reported earlier in November that Castik Capital was in exclusive negotiations to acquire TBAuctions following a process that had drawn interest from sponsors including IK Partners, Exponent and Triton. The deal valued TBAuctions at 15x-16x EBITDA, giving the company an enterprise value in the EUR 225m-240m range, Debtwire reported.

Bencis Capital Partners formed TBAuctions in 2018 when it combined BVA Auctions with Troostwijk Veilingen. Bencis had acquired BVA from Ecart Invest in 2014. The GP acquired BVA via its 2011-vintage Bencis Buyout Fund IV.

During the investment period, the company made a series of add-ons in Europe, the most recent of which is Belgium-based Vavato. TBAuctions intends to make further add-ons under Castik's ownership, according to a statement.

Castik Capital is currently deploying equity via Epic II, which held a final close at its hard-cap of EUR 1.25bn in October 2020. The fund deploys equity tickets in the range of EUR 100m-300m, targeting technology companies with an enterprise value of about EUR 200m-800m.

To date, Epic II has acquired Customs Support in November 2020 (a Dutch company in the delivery services sector) and Xexec in May 2021 (a UK-based Software company).

Company
Formed in 2018 and headquartered in Amersfoort, TBAuctions is an online auction avenue for second-hand goods. It auctions goods for third parties through Atlas, a proprietary digital platform for intelligent auctioning.

People
Castik Capital – Michael Phillips (investment partner).
Bencis Capital Partners – Eric-Joost Ernst (partner); Renske Vriend (investments director).
TBAuctions - Herberth Samsom (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Houlihan Lokey (corporate finance); Emendo Capital (corporate finance); Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (legal); Houthoff (legal); PwC (financial due diligence); Netlight (ICT due diligence); Etribes (ICT due diligence).
Vendor – Rothschild & Co. (corporate finance); Allen & Overy (legal); PwC (financial due diligence); OC&C Strategy Consultants (commercial due diligence); Crosslake (ICT due diligence).