Oakley reaps 2.5x in €210m sale of Intergenia

Ellie Pullen
18 December 2014

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Oakley Capital has sold German web hosting company Intergenia to Cinven-owned Host Europe Group (HEG) for an enterprise value of €210m, resulting in a 2.5x money multiple and IRR of 36% for the firm.

The sale has resulted in an exit for the GP's Oakley Capital Private Equity II fund. The firm originally invested in the company through its first vehicle, which exited earlier this year. The multiple return of 2.5x and IRR relate to both funds.

Oakley will receive €21m from the sale.

Earlier this year, Oakley's first fund divested its 13.6% stake in listed Daisy Group for £67m, due to the company being taken private by a consortium including Penta Capital. The firm's first fund has generated a gross money multiple of 2.2x and IRR of 38% since its launch in 2007, and has returned 115% of its drawn commitments to investors.

In September, Intergenia completed an €82.5m unitranche refinancing with Hayfin Capital Management, Highbridge Capital Management and Goldman Sachs Private Capital.

Previous funding
Oakley acquired Intergenia in November 2011, taking a 51% stake in the company in exchange for a €30m equity investment and a €10m senior debt package. The founding managers retained the remaining 41% in the business.

The transaction gave Intergenia an enterprise value of £72m.

Cinven acquired HEG from Montagu Private Equity for £438m in July 2013. The firm bought the company via its fifth fund, which closed on €5.3bn.

Company
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Cologne, Intergenia is a provider of web hosting services.

The company operates several brands, namely PlusServer, internet24.de, synergetic Technology, serverloft, Server4You and Unmetered.com.

Intergenia claims to host 2 million active websites and around 40,000 customer severs across its two data centres in Europe and the US.

The company generated revenues of €30.5m in 2012, as well as an EBITDA of €13.3m. This increased to a €13.8m EBITDA in 2013, and is expected to reach €20m this year due to the company's acquisitive growth strategy.

People
Thomas Strohe is the CEO of Intergenia, while Patrick Pulvermüller is the group CEO of HEG.