BC Partners and PSP sell Antelliq to trade in €3bn deal

Francesca Veronesi
17 December 2018

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GP BC Partners, Canadian pension fund PSP Investments and other minority co-investors have sold their stakes in France-based Antelliq (formerly Allflex), a devices provider for animal identification and traceability, to US-based Merck in a deal valued at more than €3bn.

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

Merck will make a cash payment of approximately €2.1bn to acquire all outstanding shares of Antelliq. It will equally assume Antelliq's debt of €1.15bn, which it intends to repay shortly after the closing of the acquisition.

BC made the divestment from its BCEC IX fund, which held a final close on €6.5bn in 2012 and was fully invested by June 2018. The sale generated returns in excess of 3x for BC Partners and an IRR of 30%, Unquote understands.

Antelliq was marketed based on a €150m EBITDA and the target pool of potential buyers mostly included trade players, according to a source familiar with the situation.

BC Partners and PSP investments declined to comment on the transaction.

Merck, known as MSD outside the US and Canada, produces pharmaceuticals, vaccines and other technologies and services for the farming industry. Listed on the New-York stock exchange and based in Kenilworth, the business employs 69,000 people across the globe and generated $40.1bn of revenues in 2017, of which $9.8bn in EMEA.

Previous funding
Electra first backed Antelliq, then known as Allflex, 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.

Three years later, PSP Investments bought a minority stake from BC Partners and Electra. The pension fund invested €500m in Antelliq at the time, Unquote understands. The minority stake was valued at 18x EBITDA, sources told Unquote sister publication Mergermarket this September.

Company
Founded in 1955 and based in Vitré, Antelliq provides animal identification and monitoring products including ear tags. Its clients include farmers, state regulatory bodies, livestock industries, aquaculture operators and pet owners.

The business claims that 500 million animals are identified, tracked or monitored every year using Antelliq products and technology. With €360m in sales in the 12-month period ending on September 30, the group operates nine sites across five continents. It employed 1,700 people worldwide as of 2016.

People
Merck - Kenneth Frazier (chairman, CEO).
BC Partners – Jean-Baptiste Wautier (chairman, partner).
Antelliq - Stefan Weiskopf (CEO).

Advisors
Company - Goldman Sachs (M&A); Rothschild & Co (M&A).
Equity - Barclays (M&A); Centerview Partners (M&A).