CBPE's Xafinity floats with £190.3m market-cap

Kenny Wastell
16 February 2017

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Xafinity, a CBPE Capital-backed UK corporate pensions consultancy, has floated on the London Stock Exchange with a market-cap of ТЃ190.3m.

The GP wholly exited the company via the IPO, generating a 4.3x return after a four-year holding period, representing an IRR of 66%.

The flotation values shares in Xafinity at 139 pence apiece and gives the business an enterprise value of £220.3m. Of the proceeds, £125.1m will be returned to investors, with £46m going to Xafinity.

Under the vendor's tenure, the business established a new head office and invested in its technology and infrastructure.

Zeus Capital acted as financial adviser and sole bookrunner on the transaction, while Deloitte acted as sponsor.

Previous funding
Xafinity first received private equity backing in 2005, when Duke Street acquired the company (then known as Hogg Robinson Benefits and Consultancy Services) for £124m. The GP provided follow-on funding in April 2008 to support the bolt-on of competitor Hazell Carr.

Duke Street then sold Xafinity to Advent International in January 2010 in a £190m deal. Advent merged the business with portfolio company Equiniti, which it had carved out from Lloyds TSB in 2007.

In November 2012, Equiniti sold the consulting arm of Xafinity to CBPE, retaining the Paymaster and Claybrook divisions. Lloyds Commercial Banking provided the acquirer with a senior loan package to support the transaction.

Company
Founded in 1970, Reading-headquartered Xafinity is a pension consultancy. The business has a headcount of 400, including its additional operations in Leeds, Stirling, Belfast, London and Manchester.

Xafinity generated a turnover of £51.8m in the year ending March 2016, with adjusted EBITDA of £16.7m, according to publicly available records.

People
CBPE Capital – Ian Moore (partner); Richard Thompson (director).
Xafinity – Ben Bramhall, Paul Cuff (co-CEOs).