H&F, Blackstone's take-private of Scout24 stalls – reports

Katharine Hidalgo
02 May 2019

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Hellman & Friedman (H&F) and Blackstone's proposed buyout of listed online listings company Scout24 faces resistance from shareholders, according to several media reports.

Scout24 accepted an offer of €46 per share in February 2019, which represented a premium of 27% to the company's share price of €36.10 in December 2018. The agreement gave the company an enterprise value of €5.7bn.

At the time of publication, Scout24 was trading at €45.74 per share and shareholders may be reluctant to sell shares following the rise in share price, according to reports from Bloomberg and Reuters. The management board and the supervisory board of the company continue to support the voluntary public takeover offer.

The offer depends on the achievement of a minimum acceptance threshold of at least 50% plus one share and the acceptance period ends on 9 May 2019.

As of December 2018, Morgan Stanley owned 7.95% of shares, Select Equity Group owned 5.11% and OppenheimerFunds owned 4.96%.

Blackstone and H&F originally bought a majority stake of 70% in Scout24 in 2013 and floated the company in 2015. The listing gave the company a €3.2bn market capitalisation, opening at €30 per share. Blackstone fully exited its holding in 2016 and H&F were fully divested by February 2018.