BC Partners mulling Antelliq exit

Francesca Veronesi
01 October 2018

Tweet
Facebook
LinkedIn
Google plus
Send to

BC Partners has hired Rothschild and Goldman Sachs to advise on the sale of France-based Antelliq (formerly Allflex), a devices provider for animal identification and traceability, according to Unquote sister publication Mergermarket.

[Editor's note: BC Partners is the majority owner of Acuris, the parent company of Unquote]

The process is expected to begin in mid-October. Antelliq, known as Allflex Group until its 2018 rebranding, will be marketed based on a €150m EBITDA, according to the Mergermarket report.

The company is expected to be valued at around 20x EBITDA following a minority stake buyout by PSP Investments in 2016 at 18x, sources told Mergermarket. Trade buyers and long-term investment funds will be targeted as potential buyers. The deal is understood to line up BC for a 2x return, with potential further upside due to the remaining stake, according to the publication.

Canadian pension fund Public Sector Investment Board (PSP) acquired a minority interest in Allflex from BC Partners in 2016. Following the transaction, BC Partners remained the majority shareholder in Allflex, in which it invested in 2013.

BC Partners and PSP were unavailable for comment.

Electra first backed the firm in 1998, contributing $46m to the $160m secondary buyout of the company from Goldman Sachs Private Equity. The business was refinanced in 2005 and 2007, and, in late 2014, Electra Partners provided an extra £12m in funding to the group for the acquisition of SCR Engineers.

BC Partners, via its BCEC IX fund, made a binding offer of $1.3bn to Electra for Allflex in 2013, following a competitive auction process. The sale generated a 15x multiple and a 28% IRR for Electra, which reinvested £57m to retain a 15% stake.

In 2016, PSP acquired a minority stake from BC Partners and Electra, which still had a small holding in the company after selling part of its stake to BC three years earlier.

Founded in 1955 and based in Vitré, Antelliq provides animal identification and monitoring products such as ear tags. Its clients include farmers, state regulatory bodies, livestock industries, aquaculture operators and pet owners. In 2015, the group acquired livestock monitoring technology provider SCR, and Sureflap, which produces monitoring devices for pets. Antelliq operates 24 production sites and employed 1,700 people worldwide as of 2016.