Permira in USD 5.8bn Mimecast take-private

The announcement follows a process in which Mimecast conducted discussions with several potential strategic and financial investors. The offer has been approved and recommended by Mimecast's independent special committee and its board of directors.

The offer is priced at USD 80 per ordinary share and will see Permira acquire all outstanding ordinary shares in the company, according to a statement.

The offer also includes a 30-day "go-shop" period, which expires on 6 January 2022, according to a statement. During this period, Mimecast's special committee and its advisers will initiate, solicit, encourage and evaluate alternative acquisition proposals, and could enter into negotiations with any parties that may offer alternative acquisition proposals.

Permira is investing via Permira VII, which held a final close in October 2019 on EUR 11bn, deploying equity tickets of EUR 250m-1bn and targeting businesses with enterprise values of EUR 500m-3bn. The GP registered the next fund in its flagship strategy in July 2021, as reported.

Blackstone and Ares are providing debt to back the deal, according to a statement.

Permira's previous investments in workplace software include TeamViewer; the GP sold shares worth USD 1.1bn in the remote IT support software in May 2020, having acquired the Germany-based company in 2014 before listing it in an IPO in September 2019. The GP also participated in a consortium to acquire US-headquartered McAfee in November 2021.

Taking into account the PE-backed take-privates of Mimecast, pharmaceuticals company Clinigen and supermarket chain Morrisons, the UK market will have seen announced de-listings worth more than GBP 14.6bn in 2021, according to Unquote Data. The aggregate value for 2021 is set to be the second highest recorded in the past 10 years, surpassed only by 2019, which saw large-cap deals including Advent's GBP 4.14bn acquisition of Cobham, as well as Blackstone and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's (CPPIB) GBP 5.9bn acquisition of Merlin Entertainments.

Previous funding
In 2008, Dawn Capital provided capital of around EUR 6m for Mimecast.

In 2010, Index Ventures and Dawn invested GBP 13m in the company via a Series-B round.

Insight Partners led a USD 62m funding round for Mimecast in 2012.

Mimecast listed on the Nasdaq with a market capitalisation of USD 78m in 2015. The company posted revenues of USD 116m in the financial year ending in March 2015.

Company
Founded in 2003, Mimecast is a cybersecurity software platform for businesses. Its products include email security, cybersecurity awareness training and web security. The company is headquartered in London, but is domiciled in Jersey.

Mimecast posted adjusted EBITDA of USD 127.2m in 2021 with an EBITDA margin of 25.4%, alongside revenues of USD 501.4m, compared with revenues of USD 427m in 2020.

People
Mimecast – Peter Bauer (chairman, CEO); Robert Schechter (independent director).
Permira – Michail Zekkos, Ryan Lanpher (partners); Pierre Pozzo (principal).

Advisers
Vendor – Citi (corporate finance); Goodwin Procter (legal).
Equity – Qatalyst Partners (corporate finance); Bank of America Securities (corporate finance); JP Morgan (corporate finance); RBC Capital Markets (corporate finance); Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson (legal).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Buyouts
• UK / Ireland
• Technology
• Take Private
• Permira
• United Kingdom