Abry's Link Mobility take-private crosses finish line

Abry made a voluntary cash offer at NOK 225 per Link Mobility share in early July, valuing the total share capital at approximately NOK 3.4bn, or around 16x its 2017 EBITDA.

The offer was made via Victory Partners VIII Norway, which is indirectly owned by funds managed by Boston-based Abry Partners as well as Link Mobility's management. The offer represented a premium of 27.4% over the closing price on 29 June.

At the time the offer was made, the bidder had already secured acceptance for 54% of the shares. The offer was extended in early August, at which point Victory Partners had secured 74.4% acceptance. The offer required the bidder to clear the 90% acceptance threshold to be able to launch a mandatory acquisition of all remaining shares, with a view to de-list the business.

Abry stated it was impressed by the company's market position achieved via organic growth and acquisitions; it intends to support the extension of Link Mobility's geographical footprint and execution of further acquisition opportunities.

SEB acted as financial adviser to Victory Partners VIII. Advokatfirmaet BAHR, DLA Piper and Paul Hastings were acting as legal advisers. ABG Sundal Collier and Aabø-Evensen & Co Advokatfirma advised the company.

Company
Link Mobility is a mobile communication provider headquartered in Oslo with additional offices in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Spain, Poland, France, DACH and Italy. The company employs 340 staff and posted total turnover of NOK 1.75bn for 2017 with a pro forma EBITDA of NOK 209m.

People
Abry Partners – Rob Nicewicz (principal).

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