Hg to exit Transporeon in EUR 1.88bn sale to trade

The deal suggests the Germany-based company has doubled in value in around three years, after being reportedly valued at around USD 800m at the time of Hg's buyout in January 2019.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals, it said.

The deal follows a sale process that attracted a slew of sponsors and trade, including Nordic Capital, EQT, Advent, KKR, Astorg, Thoma Bravo, Francisco Partners and Partners Group, according to a report from sister publication Mergermarket. Trimble was also named alongside Maersk to have shown interest in the asset, the report indicated.

Goldman Sachs ran an unstructured process in October with a valuation expectation of EUR 2bn based on FY22 EBITDA of EUR 75m, according to Mergermarket. Some sponsors were pinning a price tag of around EUR 1.5bn for the asset, the report said.

Transporeon has grown over the past years under Hg in part via five bolt-on acquisitions: SupplyStach, Nexogen, Logit One, TNX Logistics and ControlPay.

Hg invested in Transporeon in 2019 from TPG Capital in 2019 via Hg Genesis 8, a strategy which raised GBP 2.5bn against a target of GBP 2bn in 2017.

Meanwhile, USD 7bn of proceeds across its strategies have been generated for its LPs this year, managing partner Justin von Simson said in a statement.

Transporeon's exit is Hg's 15th liquidity event in 2022, according to a source familiar with the matter. It also marks the fourth full Hg realisation to a strategic buyer in the last 12 months, having previously sold Medifox to ResMed, Allocate Software to RL Datix, while itm8 merged with AddPro, all contributing to over USD 7bn collectively returned to clients in the last 12 months, the statement said.

The Genesis 8 fund has a distributed to paid-in capital of 1.8x after less than 5 years and is valued at 3.2x multiple on invested capital, according to the source.

Hg declined to comment.

The GP is currently raising capital for Hg Genesis 10 with a target of EUR 5.5bn. Hg Genesis 9 raised EUR 4bn versus the EUR 3.3bn target in 2020.

Company
Germany-based Transporeon provides a cloud-based logistics and transport management platform via automation, real-time insights and collaboration on EUR 48bn of annual freight. Its offering is handled on a SaaS platform that enables tendering, dispatching, scheduling, real time tracking and better communication between the around 1,400 enterprises looking to move freight and close to 145 000 carriers.

People
Transporeon - Stephan Sieber (CEO).
Hg - Justin von Simson (managing partner), Stefan Margolis (partner).

Advisors
Hg – Goldman Sachs (M&A).

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