Bridgepoint picks Harris Williams for PEI Group exit

Auri Aittokallio , Ryan Gould , Josh O'Neill and Min Ho
07 June 2023

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BridgepointТ has selected Harris Williams to oversee its planned exit from UK-based financial intelligence provider PEI Group, according to four sources familiar with the matter.

A formal auction process is expected to be launched late this year or early next year, two of the sources and a fifth source familiar said.

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket in February reported that Bridgepoint was in early deliberations regarding a potential 2H23 sale of PEI, which owns publications including Private Equity International and Buyouts.

PEI is expected to be pitched to prospective buyers off run-rate EBITDA in the region of USD 40m, as reported. The company's EBITDA stands at around USD 35m, three of the sources said, with one adding it is expected to rise by the time the process launches.

Buyout firm Bridgepoint is aiming for a valuation equivalent to roughly 20x its USD 40m in EBITDA, pricing the asset in the region of USD 800m-USD 1bn, one of the sources said.

The sellside mandate has been awarded well in advance of the process launching in anticipation of the amount of preparatory work to be done, one of the sources said. By the time the process launches, which could be as early as the fourth quarter of 2023, the vendor should also be able to benchmark PEI against peer With Intelligence, which is currently in the process of being sold by Intermediate Capital Group, the same source noted.

Approximately 50%-55% of PEI's business is subscription revenue, with the rest derived from events and marketing solutions, the same source said.

Harris Williams was in a good position to win the mandate on the back of its part in guiding last year's sale of A2MAC1, a French vehicle benchmarking insights and solutions provider, one of the sources noted.

Bridgepoint Development Capital acquired PEI from LDC for approximately GBP 120m (USD 160m) in 2018. PEI was founded in 2001 following a management buyout from Euromoney Institutional Investor.

Bridgepoint declined to comment. PEI and Harris Williams did not respond to requests for comment.