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Sanne agrees to be bought by Apex in £1.5bn deal
26th Aug 2021 07:51
(Sharecast News) - Fund administration business Sanne has agreed to be taken over by Apex Group in a £1.5bn deal.
Under the terms of the deal, announced late on Wednesday, Apex will pay 920p per share in cash. This is a premium of around 53% to the undisturbed Sanne closing share price on 13 May and above the 875p a share bid made by private equity firm Cinven.
Sanne chairman Rupert Robson said: "Sanne has a bright future ahead of it as a leader in its industry, which is entirely due to the tremendous effort of the management team and employees of the business over the past several years for which the board of Sanne would like to express their gratitude.
"Sanne has delivered substantial value creation to its shareholders since IPO and today's acquisition ensures that our investors are compensated for the future potential of the business, at what we believe is a compelling 28.8x EV/EBITDA and 40.7x P/E for 2020."
Sanne entered into talks with Cinven over its latest offer in June, after rejecting four previous offers from the PE group. Cinven now has until the end of the month to either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Sanne or walk away.
Broker Liberum said: "We had anticipated that the takeover would go through given the sluggish share price and profit growth over the last few years and we think 920p/share is good value for shareholders. It also provides more evidence of private equity appetite for professional services companies and the willingness to pay attractive premia to the listed valuations."
Under the terms of the deal, announced late on Wednesday, Apex will pay 920p per share in cash. This is a premium of around 53% to the undisturbed Sanne closing share price on 13 May and above the 875p a share bid made by private equity firm Cinven.
Sanne chairman Rupert Robson said: "Sanne has a bright future ahead of it as a leader in its industry, which is entirely due to the tremendous effort of the management team and employees of the business over the past several years for which the board of Sanne would like to express their gratitude.
"Sanne has delivered substantial value creation to its shareholders since IPO and today's acquisition ensures that our investors are compensated for the future potential of the business, at what we believe is a compelling 28.8x EV/EBITDA and 40.7x P/E for 2020."
Sanne entered into talks with Cinven over its latest offer in June, after rejecting four previous offers from the PE group. Cinven now has until the end of the month to either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Sanne or walk away.
Broker Liberum said: "We had anticipated that the takeover would go through given the sluggish share price and profit growth over the last few years and we think 920p/share is good value for shareholders. It also provides more evidence of private equity appetite for professional services companies and the willingness to pay attractive premia to the listed valuations."