Advent's Williams Lea in advanced sale process

Information memorandums were distributed to prospective buyers via sell-side adviser Rothschild in August, two of the sources said. William Blair also has an advisory role, one of them added.

The process is "quite" advanced and Advent is confident about securing a deal, one of the sources said. The sponsor is expected to refinance Tag following the sale of Williams Lea and sell it at a later stage, this source added.

Williams Lea Tag announced its split into two units in March 2019.

Williams Lea, which supplies business support services to financial, legal and professional services firms, may fetch a single-digit EBITDA multiple in line with the sale of HH Global, one of the sources added. However, a further source countered that the UK-based marketing execution firm should not be considered a peer due to its focus on business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing services – contrasting with Williams Lea's presence in B2B support services. More relevant comparisons for Williams Lea have fetched high single- or low double-digit multiples, this source said.

Sources pointed to HH Global as a valuation benchmark; the marketing firm received a GBP 100m minority equity investment from Blackstone in December 2020, and faces some of the same challenges as Williams Lea. At the time of HH Global's sale, Mergermarket sources pointed to Communisis as another reference point; the marketing outsourcing business was acquired by US payments company OSG Group in December 2018 for GBP 153.8m.

Williams Lea is expected to generate EBITDA of EUR 39.5m in 2021, while the wider group is forecasted to post EBITDA of EUR 76m in the same period, one of the sources said.

According to 2020 accounts filed with Companies House for Williams Lea Tag's parent company, AI Wertheimer Holdings, the uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic led businesses to slow the outsourcing of support services and marketing activities. Across the Williams Lea unit, impacts were primarily felt in onsite services as clients' offices closed to staff. However, services such as back office, document processing and presentation services remained strong with clients moving towards remote working.

According to one of the sources, a new owner would need to invest heavily in Williams Lea to deliver further growth and further digitalise. A sponsor could potentially grow the business by selling more information and digital services to William Lea's clients as part of their day-to-day work, this source added.

Williams Lea underwent digital transformation and focused on tech-enabled services since Advent acquired the business from DPDHL in late 2017, one of the sources noted. Its growth potential is focused on accelerating outsourcing and digitalising services for its legal, financial and professional services clients as they adapt to more virtual and flexible ways of working after Covid-19, he added.

Advent and Williams Lea declined to comment. Rothschild and William Blair did not respond to requests for comment.

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• Topics
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Support services
• Advent International
• Rothschild
• William Blair