Carlyle to sell subtitling business BTI Studios to Altor

A source close to the deal told unquote" the deal values the business at around €230m. It is also understood it represents a return of around 4.5x money for the vendor.

According to unquote" sister publication Mergermarket, which cited various sources familiar with the matter, EQT Partners, Nordic Capital and Bridgepoint also displayed interest in the company, though the latter was understood not to have placed a bid. Two trade buyers were also reportedly involved.

Capital for the deal will be drawn from Altor Fund IV, a vehicle with a 15-year lifespan that held a final close on its €2bn hard-cap in July 2014.

Under the vendor's four-year tenure, BTI has undertaken an international acquisitive growth strategy, most recently expanding into the US and France. The company has trebled its EBITDA during the same period, according to a statement, which stood at €7m at the time of Carlyle's initial investment, according to unquote" data.

However, according to the aforementioned report by Mergermarket, Carlyle marketed the business at an expected 2017-full-year EBITDA of €18-19m, while the company generated around €12m in EBITDA in its most recent financial year.

The business intends to continue expanding internationally following the deal and will also invest in the development of its digital workflow, processes and automation.

Altor said in a statement it intends to capitalise on the increased prominence of video-on-demand and mobile streaming. However, unquote" sister publication Debtwire, which cited sources familiar with matter, recently reported that some bidders had dropped out of the process as the business was likely to incur significant development costs related to the automation of some of its processes.

The deal is expected to conclude in Q3 2017.

Debt
According to Debtwire, the sales process attracted all-senior leverage pitches of up to 6x. The publication added that packages with around 5x senior leverage and an additional 2x of mezzanine were also tabled.

Previous funding
Carlyle acquired BTI (then known as Broadcast Text International) from Valedo Partners in September 2013, with capital drawn from the 2008-vintage vehicle Carlyle Europe Technology Partners II. According to local publication Dagens Industri, the deal valued the business at around SEK 500m.

Company
Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Stockholm, BTI provides media subtitling, dubbing and video description services. It operates 21 facilities across 17 European countries and is anticipating revenues of more than €100m in 2017, according to the aforementioned statement.

BTI has a headcount of around 400 and a client roster including Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Discovery Channel, Miramax, 20th Century Fox, NBC Universal, Warner Brothers, Turner, Viacom, BBC and ITV.

People
Carlyle Europe Partners – Per Skoglund (director).
Altor – Klas Johansson (partner).
BTI Studios – Björn Lifvergren (CEO, founder).

Advisers
Vendor – Arma Partners (corporate finance); Delphi (legal); PwC (financial due diligence).

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• Topics
• Exits
• Buyouts
• Nordics
• Media
• Sweden
• Altor
• Carlyle Group
• Secondary buyout