The Deals Pipeline

Nordic

Itiviti, a Swedish financial technology firm owned by Nordic Capital, is expected to come up for sale in early 2021, Mergermarket reported on 7 August. A sell-side adviser appointment is expected in Q4 2020. Itiviti generates around €85m in EBITDA and more than €200m in revenues. Conversations with PE firms are ongoing. Permira is keen on the deal, while several other sponsors including Apax France are looking at the asset. The business should garner an enterprise value with a mid-teen EBITDA multiple. Nordic Capital was planning to sell the business prior to the pandemic, but the situation was put on hold.

DACH

French mutual bank BPCE announced on 3 August that it has started exclusive talks with Ripplewood Advisors to sell German online banking products and services provider Fidor Bank. BPCE appointed Clipperton and Messier Maris to handle the sale. Fidor generated losses of €15-25m in 2018. The business could be valued at more than €300m.

UK

Pearson's share price gained 7.84% on 6 August, following market chatter that the academic publisher may have attracted interest from buyout groups, the Financial Times reported on 7 August. The report mentioned Apollo Global Management, owner of Pearson's New York City-based competitor McGraw-Hill Education, as one possible private equity group that could be interested. Hopes of a break-up of Pearson followed news that Cevian Capital, an activist investment firm, has built a shareholding in Pearson.

Capita's sale of its Education Software Solutions (ESS) division has attracted a pool of sponsors and trade buyers as the auction process kicks off, Mergermarket reported on 5 August. Bain Capital, KKR and Powerschool are among the bidders circling the asset. Hg-backed Iris Software is also keen on the division, as is Advanced, a UK-based supplier of business software and services. Advent is also eyeing the asset. Civica, a UK software provider backed by Partners Group, is also expected to receive a book. IMs went out at the end of July. ESS, which generates an EBITDA of around £50m, could fetch a valuation multiple of 10-14x EBITDA, indicating that the business could fetch between £500m and £600m.

Benelux

Parcom Capital Management is the most serious candidate to acquire compatriot retailer Hema, Het Financieele Dagblad reported on 7 August. Another serious suitor is the combination of HouDeHema and WeLoveHema, two citizen initiatives that have not yet gathered enough funds for the takeover. One or two foreign private equity companies are also in the running.

Southern Europe

Illycaffè, the Trieste-based Italian coffee roaster, has drawn up a shortlist of bidders for a 20% stake in the company, Il Sole 24 Ore reported on 7 August. Illycaffè's adviser Goldman Sachs has drawn up the shortlist, which is made up of private equity bidders. Blackstone and Rhone Capital are understood to be on the list. The offers value Illycaffè at 15-16x its EBITDA of €80m, giving it a valuation of €1.2bn. The situation faces one difficulty in that Francesco Illy, who holds a 23% stake, is looking to sell it to Peninsula Capital. This sale process is separate to the one being conducted by Goldman Sachs, but it is unlikely the family will agree to 43% of the company being sold to private equity. A solution will need to be found that mediates between the two sale processes.

France

Axa announced that the €1bn divestiture of its Axa Life Europe business to PE firm Cinven has collapsed, Reuters reported on 6 August citing CFO Etienne Bouas-Laurent. The potential disposal of its variable annuity products unit fell through since some conditions for closing could not be met. Axa signed an agreement to sell Axa Life Europe to Cinven for €1.165bn in 2018.

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• Buyouts
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• Deals Pipeline