eFront to be taken private

Francisco Partners bought a 74.19% stake in the company via the EFR Holding newco, which corresponds to 2,273,793 eFront shares. The €18 share price represents a 62.16% premium over eFront's €11.10 per share trading price on 22 September. The offer values eFront at approximately €68m, double its current market cap of €34m.

eFront's management sold 6.98% of its stock and continues to hold 9.35% of the company.

The acquisition occurred following a tender offer issued by CM-CIC Securities on behalf of EFR Holding.

Francisco Partners previously took French service provider Emailvision (August 2010) and UK-listed technology company Cybit Holdings plc (December 2009) private.

Among selling shareholders were funds managed by CDC Innovation, Odyssée Venture and OTC Asset Management, as well as corporate stakeholders IBIM 2 Ltd and RRA Vendôme. CDC Innovation owned 26.8% of all eFront shares.

Debt
Information on leverage for this transaction was not disclosed.

Company
eFront is a provider of business software for financial services, focused on alternative investment and risk management. The Paris-based company had a turnover of €27m in 2011 and employs a staff of 210. The company's operating profit in 2010 was €2.9m. eFront was founded by Olivier Dellenbach, who remains in his position of CEO, in 1999.

People
Deep Shah and Peter Christodoulo led the deal on behalf of Francisco Partners.

As a result of the share sale, four board members of eFront have resigned and two new board members have been co-opted. The board of eFront now includes, in addition to Olivier Dellenbach, who remains CEO, Deep Shah and Peter Christodoulo.

Advisers
Equity - Franklin Law Frim (Legal); Arsene Taxand (Tax); DC Advisory Partners (Corporate Finance); CM-CIC Securities (Broker)
Company & Management - Wragge & Co (Legal)

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