Trilantic-backed Oberberg's auction delayed on market malaise

The anticipated sale, which drew early interest following JP Morgan’s appointment as sell-side advisor earlier this year, was scheduled to launch after the summer but no marketing materials have since landed, said four more sources familiar with the situation.

Myriad factors may have caused a delay, including the general unsatisfactory conditions for M&A and growing valuation discrepancies, the sources said.

The company’s EBITDA for the last twelve months did not reflect the level needed to reach a desired valuation, said three of the sources.

With trailing-12M EBITDA sitting at EUR 30m, the vendor would have been hard-pressed to market off a top-end of EUR 45m, even with adjustments, said two of the sources.

The clinics group was expected to be marketed off around EUR 35m to EUR 40m EBITDA, as reported by Unquote sister publication Mergermarket.

Adjustments that were previously attributable to the corona-pandemic were out of the question, said one of the sources. “You can’t normalize corona anymore. Nobody is buying that.”

Debt markets have also played a role in pausing the process for now given it might be difficult to get a sizeable debt package underwritten, said one of the sources.

Oberberg is no isolated case: the sale of the Montagu-backed ophthalmology platform Artemis was pulled as its valuation was left unmet by potential bidders, as reported last week.

Following some pre-marketing meetings in July and August, the launch of Oberberg's sale process had been anticipated in September but never emerged, one of the sources added.

Some materials were sent but no detailed financials were shown and so they could be waiting for better trading updates, said one of the sources.

Oberberg reported FY20 adj. EBITDA of EUR 19.6m on EUR 96.3m of sales, up from EUR 17.2m adjusted EBITDA and EUR 76.2m revenue in the year prior, according to its most recently available filings. The company planned for a “significant increase” in sales revenue as well an increase in EBITDA in FY21, the filings state.

Under Trilantic’s ownership, Oberberg has made a string of add-on acquisitions strengthening its growth. In March it acquired Eberl, a German family-owned private clinic operator. Three years ago it acquired at least three psychotherapy, psychiatry and psychosomatic acute clinics in Germany, among them Nescure Privatklinik, Panorama Kliniken and Jaegerwinkel Privatklinik, as reported.

Founded in 1988, Oberberg is specialised in psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care in Germany and operates nine clinics focused on privately insured patients.

JPMorgan declined to comment. Oberberg and Trilantic did not respond to requests for comment.

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• Topics
• Exits
• Buyouts
• Healthcare
• DACH
• Germany
• Trilantic Capital Partners (previously LBMB)