Vitruvian pivots to unstructured talks for OAG amid valuation pressures

Ryan Gould , Josh O'Neill and Charlie Taylor-Kroll
17 April 2023

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Vitruvian Partners is engaged in unstructured discussions with suitors for OAG, according to sources familiar with the matter, as dealmaking continues to be pressured by mismatches between buyer and seller valuation expectations.

The buyout group has moved away from running a structured process and is instead in conversations with a number of financial and strategic buyers interested in Luton, UK-headquartered OAG after bids collected on 14 March fell short of its desired price tag of more than USD 450m, the sources said.

US-based private equity firm Alpine Investors and investment fund Battery Ventures both submitted offers that valued OAG in the region of USD 300m, they added. Vitruvian was pitching OAG – acquired from Epiris Managers for around USD 215m in 2017 – off USD 26m EBITDA for 2023.

Vitruvian kicked off the sale of OAG earlier this year after appointing DC Advisory to oversee an auction. The business, which provides a range of schedule, passenger booking and emissions data sets to airlines, attracted early interest from financial sponsors including Montagu, Bridgepoint, Warburg Pincus, IK Partners, Thoma Bravo and Ardian, Unquote sister publication Mergermarket reported in February.

Some interested parties were said to be questioning OAG's avenues of available growth beyond its current penetration among airline clients, the sources said. Parties were reported to be scrutinizing the sustainability of OAG's long-term earnings and how much of its recent performance could be attributed to a post-pandemic travel rebound.

Representatives for Vitruvian and DC Advisory declined to comment. OAG, Alpine Investors and Battery Ventures did not respond to requests for comment.