MCI makes 11x on €76m Invia exit to Rockaway

The GP's MCI.TechVentures Fund exited its investment alongside fellow shareholders Mezzanine Management and founder Michal Drozd.

MCI sold its 80% stake in Invia for €56m, netting a 46% IRR on the deal, with 11x money returned on its primary investment in Invia and 3.5x on secondary investments. The firm said the sale marked the highest return on a single investment in the history of its MCI.TechVentures Fund and the vehicle's third exit from a Czech Republic-founded portfolio company.

During its time as owner of Invia, MCI claims to have delivered 25% revenue growth and 40% EBITDA growth on an annual basis. The GP was also behind the merger of Invia and Polish peer Travelplanet – another MCI portfolio company.

Previous funding
MCI's involvement with the Invia group began in 2001, when it provided a €1.25m early-stage investment in Polish online travel portal Travelplanet, which had been founded the same year.

Invia became part of MCI's portfolio in 2008, when the GP made its primary investment in the company through a €3.7m round financed by the MCI.TechVentures Fund.

In 2011, MCI backed Invia's acquisition of fellow portfolio company Travelplanet.

MCI committed a further €3.85m to Invia in a June 2013 round that also saw Mezzanine Management join the company's group of backers. The mezzanine provider injected €7.5m in September the same year for a minority stake.

Over the course of the investment, MCI realised €13.3m through partial exits.

Company
Invia is a Czech Republic-headquartered travel booking website operating in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

In addition to Invia, the company operates Travelplanet, Net.Travel and Slovakia's Lastminute. The company was founded in 2002 by current CEO Michal Drozd and offers services from 350 tour operators.

People
MCI – Sylwester Janik (partner, fund manager of MCI.TechVentures).
Mezzanine Management – Przemysław Głębocki (managing director).
Invia – Michal Drozd (CEO, co-founder).

Advisers
Vendor – Rothschild (corporate finance); Corpin (corporate finance); Squire Patton Boggs, Michal Karwacki, Radek Janecek, Jane Haxby, Marcin Wnukowski, Tatiana Prokopova, Akos Eros, Pawel Magierowski, Ivan Chalupa, Nicole Jancova, Ewelina Witek, Agnes Budai, Peter Devinsky, Jonathan Ross (legal); PwC (financial due diligence).
Equity – Wolf Theiss, Jan Myska, Jan Kotous, Libor Prokes, Dariusz Harbaty, Lenka Kucerova, Monika Gaczkowska (legal).

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• Topics
• Exits
• Buyouts
• CEE
• Technology
• Czech Republic
• Rockaway Capital
• MCI Management
• Poland
• Secondary buyout
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• Rothschild