Apax France exits Vizada in $960m trade sale

Greg Gille
01 August 2011

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Apax France and Hutton Collins have sold French mobile satellite communications company Vizada to Astrium, an EADS subsidiary, for a total consideration of $960m.

Apax France had almost recouped its original investment in Vizada when Hutton Collins acquired a stake in the business last year. In conjunction with this earlier partial exit, the sale to EADS enabled Apax France to reap an overal money multiple and IRR in excess of 4x and 40% respectively.

The mid-cap house had been approached by several potential buyers over the years, both funds and corporates. EADS showed a keen interest in Vizada as it will enable it to diversify its services offering, as part of its Vision 2020 strategy – this is EADS' fourth services-related acquisition this year.

EADS entered into exclusive negotiations for a pre-emptive offer in May. Apax France stated it was pleased with the outcome of the sale, as EADS demonstrated a long-term vision for Vizada's development.

This is the third exit in the telecom sector for Apax France in the past two months: the firm reaped a 3.2x multiple on the €382m trade sale of Prosodie and sold its 52.3% stake in Outremer Telecom to AXA Private Equity for €133m.

Apax France also added a telecom business to its portfolio last month by taking a 40% stake in the €360m buyout of cable network company Numericable Belgium/Luxembourg.

Previous funding
Apax France originally acquired France Telecom Mobile Satellite Communications (FTMSC) from its parent company for €60m in 2006. It then bought Norway-based Telenor Satellite Services (TTS) from Telenor for a cash consideration of $400m in 2007. The two entities were merged to form Vizada.

In 2010, Hutton Collins provided Vizada with a $116m investment in preference shares – a deal that enabled Apax France to partially realise its investment in the business.

Apax France did consider bolt-on acquisitions for the business over the course of its investment, but no opportunities were considered compelling enough – although the firm came close to buying Ship Equip in February 2011. Under Apax's ownership, Vizada registered a three-fold increase in turnover, while EBITDA increased by 7x.

Company
Paris-based Vizada was established in 2007 and offers mobile and fixed connectivity services from multiple satellite network operators through a network of 400 service provider partners.

Vizada expects to post a $660m turnover and a $95m EBITDA in 2011. The company employs in excess of 700 staff.

People
Bertrand Pivin and Franck Legoux led the deal for Apax France. Louis Gallois is CEO of EADS.

Advisers
Acquirer – Messier Maris et Associés (Corporate finance); Ernst & Young (Financial due diligence); Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Legal).
Vendor – UBS, Christian Lesueur, Philipp Beck, Christian Hess (M&A); Weil Gotshal & Manges, David Aknin, Alexandre Duguay (Legal); Deloitte, Sami Rahal, Quy-Chau Nguyen (Financial due diligence); Taj, Sophie Blegent-Delapille (Tax); Hogan Lovells, Michel Debroux (Legal).