Bowmark close to £100m take-private of Tax Systems

The board of the Stripes bidco and the independent directors of Tax Systems have reached an agreement on the terms of a recommended all-cash offer for the entire share capital of the business.

Bowmark is offering 110 pence per Tax Systems share. This represents a premium of 20.3% on the average price of 91.4 pence per share for the 12 months to 6 February 2019. The bidco has already received irrevocable undertakings from a Tax Systems director as well as other shareholders, amounting to more than 50% of the shares.

The deal is still conditional on receiving the approval of 75% of Tax Systems shareholders at the next general meeting.

Staines-based Tax Systems offers corporation tax technology and services to businesses in the UK & Ireland. Its offering automates the end-to-end compliance process and aims to reduce operational risks. It posted revenues of £8m for H1 2018, with a gross margin of 92% and a 46% adjusted EBITDA margin (£3.7m in the same period). For the full 2017 year, Tax Systems generated a turnover of £15m with a £7m EBITDA.

Bowmark recently held a final close for its sixth fund, Bowmark Capital Partners VI, on its £600m target after just 10 weeks on the road. However, Unquote understood at the time that the vehicle's predecessor would still make a couple of deals before Bowmark starts deploying fund VI.

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• Topics
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• Bowmark Capital LLP
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