Hellman & Friedman et al. sell further stake in Scout24

Amedeo Goria
05 October 2017

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Hellman & Friedman has partially exited its holding in German digital marketplace Scout24 as part of a placement of 10 million ordinary shares.

The sellers included Hellman & Friedman, selling its stake via its holding company Willis Lux Holding, and minority shareholder MEO Ord. The deal saw the investors sell 10 million ordinary shares, representing a 9.3% stake. The accelerated bookbuilding process was based on a €34.10 share price and totalled €341m in proceeds.

Following the deal, the GP reaped €327m in gross proceeds, while MEO Ord received €14m.

Barclays Bank, Credit Suisse Securities, Jefferies International and JP Morgan Securities acted as joint bookrunners for the placement.

The sale will increase free float, which currently exceeds 71%. Following the transaction, Willis Lux will retain a 16.4% stake in the business and remain the largest shareholder, continuing to have representatives on the company's supervisory board.

The sellers agreed on a 45-day lock-up period.

Previous funding
Hellman & Friedman and Blackstone acquired a 70% stake in Scout24 in November 2013 for €1.5bn, valuing the business at €2bn.

In October 2015, the company floated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The IPO gave Scout24 a €3.2bn market cap, opening at €30 per share. It saw Scout24 raise €1.16bn in proceeds, issuing 38 million shares. A capital increase of 7.6 million shares contributed gross proceeds of €228m.

More recently, Blackstone divested a block of 13.6 million shares in September 2016, representing a 12.7% stake and fully exiting its holding, while Hellman & Friedman did not take part in the sale, remaining the sole shareholder of Willis Lux.

Company
Scout24 is a digital marketplace running two platforms, ImmobilienScout24 for real estate and AutoScout24 for cars. The business is based in Munich and was founded in 1998 by Christian Mangstl and Joachim Schoss.

The company posted €442.1m in revenues in 2016 and a €224.5m EBITDA. The business had €633.9m of net financial debt as per 2016 and employs 1,135 people.

People
Scout24 – Greg Ellis (CEO).
Hellman & Friedman – Patrick Healy (deputy chair).