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Hellman & Friedman in EUR 3bn take-private offer for Zooplus

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Hellman & Friedman (H&F) has made a voluntary public takeover offer corresponding to EUR 3bn in diluted equity for Frankfurt-listed pet products retailer Zooplus.

Zooplus's management and supervisory board have welcomed the offer and intend to recommend that it is accepted by shareholders, according to a statement.

The GP has secured irrevocable tender commitments for around 17% of the company's shares so far. This includes a commitment from long-term shareholder Maxburg Beteiligungen. Maxburg co-founder and managing partner Florian Seubert was a co-founder of Zooplus and served as its CFO until 2013.

The GP intends to acquire the company via its Zorro Bidco vehicle. The offer is priced at EUR 390 per share.

H&F announced the final close of Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners X on USD 24.4bn in July 2021 as reported.

H&F said in a statement that it expects Zooplus to benefit from the shift to online seen in the pet suppliers market in recent years. The GP intends to support the company's organic and inorganic growth.

Previous investments in the pet products retail sector by large-cap sponsors include Cinven's acquisition of Italy-based Arcaplanet in June 2021 from Permira and co-investor Winch Capital Partner in a deal that reportedly valued the company at more than EUR 1bn.

The sector has also seen a number of mid-cap deals, including Alvarez & Marsal Capital's EUR 260m acquisition of Croatia-based pet products retailer Pet Network International in July 2021.

Company
Zooplus is an online pet products retailer serving 30 European markets. Headquartered in Munich, the company was founded in 1999 and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2008, at which time it 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 financial report.

People
Hellman & Friedman – Stefan Goetz (partner); Adrien Motte (director); Patrick Healy (CEO).
Zooplus – Cornelius Patt (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – JP Morgan (corporate finance); Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (legal); Goetz Partners (commercial due diligence).
Company – Goldman Sachs (corporate finance); GLNS (legal).

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