ICG sells majority stake in With Intelligence to Motive Partners in GBP 400m deal

Harriet Matthews
21 July 2023

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Listed asset manager ICG has sold a majority stake in financial data and intelligence provider With Intelligence to Motive Partners, with the vendor remaining a financing partner and shareholder.

The company's management is also investing in the business as part of the buyout.

The transaction values the business at GBP 400m, according to two sources close to the situation.

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket first reported in December 2022 that ICG was mulling a sale of With Intelligence, with Houlihan Lokey the frontrunner to win the sellside mandate.

The company was marketed based on a forward-looking EBITDA of EUR 20m, Mergermarket reported. It was expected to be valued based on a high-teens EBITDA multiple.

ICG invested in With Intelligence (then known as Pageant Media) in 2020, at which time it was majority owned by founder and CEO Charlie Kerr. The company was reportedly valued in the GBP 100m-GBP 150m range at the time, with Mergermarket reporting that it was targeting GBP 9m-GBP 10m in 2020, versus GBP 7m in 2019. ICG deployed equity via its 2020-vintage, EUR 1bn Europe Mid-Market Fund.

Similar processes that have piqued private equity interest in recent months include Bridgepoint's sale of Private Equity International via Harris Williams, as well as the sale of Euromoney, which saw the company acquired by Astorg and Epiris.

Motive Partners is deploying equity via its second fund, which held a final close in July 2022 on USD 1.8bn, surpassing its USD 1.5bn target. The GP specialises in financial technology investments, with this background proving instrumental in the firm winning the auction, the second source close said.

Motive aims to accelerate value creation across its portfolio with its IOI (investors, operators and innovators) model, it said in a statement. In this case, it will aim to connect With Intelligence's team with its expert Industry Partners and its Motive Create team. The firm will aim to support the development of With Intelligence's data and analytics platform, as well as assist with its expansion into new asset classes.

The acquisition of With Intelligence is expected to be one of the fund's last before the GP returns to the market for its third fund, the second source close told Unquote.

ICG and Motive Partners declined to comment.

Company
Founded in 1998, With Intelligence provides data and intelligence for global asset managers, aiming to support LPs and GPs across allocation and fundraising. It provides profiles, fund information, performance metrics and analyst perspectives, with more than 500 employees across Europe, North America and Asia.

People
ICG – Jamie Rivers (managing director); Gareth Knight (head of European Mid-Market).
Motive Partners – Neil Cochrane (partner).
With Intelligence – Charlie Kerr (founder, CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – Houlihan Lokey (corporate finance); Proskauer (legal); Alvarez & Marsal (financial due diligence, tax); OC&C (commercial due diligence).
Management – Arrowpoint Advisory (corporate finance); Joelson (legal); Blick Rothenberg (tax).
Equity – Raymond James (corporate finance); MDW Capital Advisory (debt advisory); White & Case (legal); Plural Strategy, Oliver Wyman(commercial due diligence); EY (financial due diligence, tax).