H&F matches EQT's EUR 3.36bn Zooplus offer

H&F is being advised by Goetzpartners and JP Morgan, while EQT is advised by Deutsche Bank and Milbank.

H&F made its first voluntary public takeover offer for Zooplus in August 2021, offering EUR 390 per share for a valuation of EUR 3bn. The GP increased its offer to EUR 460 per share on 13 September, this time valuing the company at EUR 3.29bn, as reported.

Zooplus first confirmed that it was in talks with EQT on 2 September. The company also confirmed that it was in talks with KKR on 7 September, but the GP subsequently announced that KKR had left the bidding process after H&F's second offer on 15 September, as reported. 

EQT published its offer documentation on 6 October, having first announced its offer at the end of September 2021, as reported. The GP made its offer via its Pet BidCo holding company, which is owned by its EUR 15.6bn EQT IX fund. The vehicle held a final close in April 2021 and generally deploys equity tickets in the EUR 150m-1bn range. The vehicle will be 65-70% deployed subject to the completion of the offer, EQT said in a statement at the time.

The acceptance period of EQT's offer expires on 3 November 2021, according to a statement, with the acceptance period for H&F's ongoing offer also extended until this date.

The winner of the bidding war will not be the first sponsor to own a stake in Zooplus. Germany-headquartered Maxburg Capital Partners is a shareholder in the company; a co-founding managing partner of the investment firm, Florian Seubert, was also a co-founder of Zooplus and served as its CFO until 2013. AdCapital and Zouk Ventures held stakes in the business prior to its IPO in 2008, according to Unquote Data.

Zooplus sells a range of pet products including food, toys, beds and cages via its online platform, serving customers in 30 European countries. The company was founded in 1999 and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2008. At the time of its listing, Zooplus posted turnover of around EUR 55m.

According to its latest annual report, Zooplus posted revenues of EUR 1.8bn and EBITDA of EUR 63.3m in 2020, versus revenues of EUR 1.5bn and EBITDA of EUR 11.8m in 2019. The company employed 768 staff in 2020, versus 713 in 2019, according to the same report. The company said in a press release issued in August that its H1 2021 revenues had exceeded EUR 1bn, versus EUR 862.5m in H1 2020.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Buyouts
• DACH
• Consumer
• Investments
• EQT
• Hellman & Friedman LLC
• Take Private
• Germany