Oakley exits WebPros to CVC and re-invests

Oakley sold its stake from Oakley Capital Private Equity III and reinvested from Oakley Capital Private Equity IV, its €1.46bn buyout fund closed in July 2019. Oakley invested $200m for a minority stake in the company.

The sale generated gross returns to Oakley's third fund of 6.7x money and approximately 140% IRR, also taking into account previous distributions during the investment period.

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket reported in November 2019 that Oakley made one attempt to exit the company in 2018, but did not reach its desired valuation. Mergermarket reported that the company was marketed from an EBITDA of $100-120m.

Previous funding
In May 2017, Oakley invested $27.4m for a 51% stake in WebPros, then known as Plesk. Debt financing was provided by TPG. WebPros had an enterprise value of $105m at the time of the investment and reported EBITDA of $14m and a turnover of $28m in 2016.

During the investment period, Oakley assisted with the establishment of a new corporate structure and independent business operations following the carve-out from its US parent company. The GP also pursued a buy-and-build strategy and made four add-on acquisitions to broaden the company's product portfolio and service offering. 

Company
Based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and in the US, WebPros was formed in 2017 via a carve-out from US-based parent company Parallels but traces its roots back to 1999. It offers SaaS server hosting platforms for websites via five web hosting services, including cPanel and Plesk. The company supports the operations of 80 million websites. It has a headcount of 450 and generates revenues of €50m.

Advisers
Vendor – Kirkland & Ellis International (legal); CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang (legal).
Company – Arma Partners (corporate finance).

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• Buyouts
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• CVC Capital Partners