CVC acquires Domestic & General from Advent

Greg Gille
13 August 2013

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CVC has agreed to buy insurance business Domestic & General (D&G) from Advent International, alongside management.

CVC was earlier this month reported to have entered into exclusive negotiations with Advent. The GP secured fully committed debt financing from Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley, Société Générale and UBS.

The deal was rumoured to be worth up to £1bn during the auction process, but was eventually valued at a slightly lower level, according to a source close to the situation. Several reports valued the deal at £750m. The transaction is expected to complete in Q4 this year.

The business has been circled by private equity houses since the end of last year when Advent kicked off a sale of the London-based company. The process reportedly stalled in the following months, however. Last month, private equity houses such as Blackstone, CVC and Clayton Dubilier & Rice were reported to be in the second round of bidding.

This is the second signing in as many days for CVC, which on 12 August entered final negotiations with Campbell Soup Company to acquire part of its European activities. The buyout house raised €10.5bn for its latest buyout fund at the end of July, although these two latest investments were completed via the firm's €11bn Fund V.

Previous funding
Advent took home appliance insurer D&G private in 2007 for £523.9m. The group has since seen its turnover grow from £304m to around £600m, while EBITDA doubled from £41m to £83m.

Company
D&G is an insurance company focusing on the home appliances market. The business was founded in 1912 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1988, before being taken private by Advent in 2007.

D&G employs 2,500 staff. It is headquartered in Wimbledon and has further offices in Bedworth, Brighton and Nottingham.

People
Senior manaing director Peter Rutland and partner Pev Hooper led the deal for CVC. Advent was represented by partner John Singer. John Pearmund is CEO of D&G.

Advisers
Equity – UBS (M&A); OC&C Strategy Consultants (Commercial due diligence); KPMG (Financial due diligence); Clifford Chance (Legal).
Vendor – Freshfields (Legal); Goldman Sachs (M&A); Marlborough Partners (Debt); PwC (Financial & commercial due diligence); Ernst & Young (Tax).
Management – Macfarlanes (Legal); Jamiesons (Corporate finance).