Hg's MeinAuto announces intention to float

The firm said in a statement that it intends to raise minimum gross proceeds of €150m from the placement of newly issued shares. The company plans to use the proceeds to finance its future growth and to repay part of its existing debt.

Existing shareholders, including Hg, will also provide a secondary component as part of the offering, to provide sufficient liquidity following the listing.

BofA Securities, Barclays Bank Ireland, Citigroup, Jefferies and UniCredit are acting as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners.

Reuters reported in March 2021 that the company could be valued at around €2bn in the IPO.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Cologne, MeinAuto is an online platform that allows users to search and compare new cars. Users can buy vehicles in a fully digital sale process, with the vehicle subsequently delivered to them. The company posted €212m in adjusted revenues in 2020, compared with €191m in 2019. It posted adjusted EBITDA of €38m in 2020, compared with €31m in 2019.

Hg acquired MeinAuto in January 2018, investing via its £2.5bn HgCapital 8 vehicle, which held a final close in February 2017. The fund invests in companies with enterprise values of £100-500m, deploying equity tickets in the £100-250m range. The GP also invested £6.7m from its listed HgCapital Trust.

Hg acquired car fleet leasing company Mobility Concept from Unicredit Leasing via HgCapital 8 in March 2018. MeinAuto and Mobility Concept were merged under Hg's Mobility Holding.

Previous investors in MeinAuto prior to Hg's investment include HV Capital, XAnge Capital and DN Capital.

At the time of Hg's investment, the business had 70 employees and had first become profitable in 2015. It recorded 16 million visitors in 2018; in 2020, its website had 26 million visits. The company now has a subscriber base of 44,000 users. Its employee headcount has also increased from 70 people to 360 under Hg's ownership.

While new car registrations in Germany decreased by 19% between 2019 and 2020, MeinAuto said in a statement that its orders increased by 40% in the same period.

To compare, used car sales platform Auto1 listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in February 2021 at a €7.9bn valuation, as reported by Unquote. Auto1 was founded in 2012 and generated 2019 turnover of €3.5bn and employs around 4,200 staff, making it a larger business than MeinAuto; it also focuses on used cars, as opposed to new vehicles. However, its consumer car sales focus makes the companies comparable, and its IPO netted returns of more than 3x for DN Capital and LPs in its Global Venture Capital III vehicle, as reported.

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