Hg agrees to sale of Commify to ECI Partners
Hg, the Manager of HgCapital Trust plc ("HGT"), today announces that it has agreed the sale of Commify, the UK-headquartered European leader in business messaging solutions to Local Enterprises, to ECI Partners.
The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed and completion is subject to closing conditions.
HGT, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, gives private and institutional investors the opportunity to participate in all Hg's investments.
This transaction values HGT's investment in Commify at approximately £21.9 million. This would represent an uplift of £5.3 million (32% or 1.2 pence per share) over the carrying value of £16.6 million in the Net Asset Value ("NAV") of HGT at 31 March 2023.
Note that these figures only relate to HgCapital Trust's share of Hg's overall investment in Commify.
Based on the 31 March 2023 reported NAV, the pro-forma NAV of the Trust is expected to be £2.2 billion (or 475.3 pence per share). HGT's available liquid resources, which includes the undrawn bank facility of £350 million for future deployment (including all announced transactions and the final dividend paid in May) are estimated to be £688 million (32% of the pro-forma 31 March 2023 NAV).
HGT will be announcing its interim results to 30 June 2023 on 18 September 2023.
ECI Partners invests in Commify, Europe's leading provider of business
messaging solutions to Local Enterprises
London, 5 September 2023: ECI Partners, the leading growth-focused mid-market private equity firm, today announces its investment in Commify, the UK-headquartered European leader in business messaging solutions to Local Enterprises. The deal, valued at €300 million, provides a full realisation for Hg, a leading investor in European and transatlantic software and services businesses, that has backed Commify's transformation since 2016.
Commify's integrated solutions enable over 45,000 customers to communicate with their customers and staff, sending over 5 billion messages per year, covering a range of business critical use cases from appointment confirmations to emergency alerts, via a range of channels including SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, email and voice.
The business is a long-established leader in the European Local Enterprise segment, complemented by fast-growing operations in the US and Australia. It operates at global scale, taken to market locally in each country via both its global solutions brand Esendex and local self-serve brands. Commify has completed 16 complementary acquisitions in the last decade, and the investment from ECI will support further acquisitions across both existing and new countries, as well as to accelerate future platform and product development.
Richard Hanscott, CEO, Commify: "With Hg's backing in recent years we have built a highly differentiated market leading business, with material investment in both M&A and our business messaging platform. ECI's ownership will allow us to accelerate our investment in new products and services, including our growing range of messaging channels such as WhatsApp. Alongside this we are excited to continue to drive expansion through further acquisitions in both existing and new countries. Commify is perfectly positioned to continue to deliver high quality, sustainable growth. This is a very exciting time for Commify, our customers and our employees as we look forward to further strong growth supported by ECI's significant investment."
Paul McCreadie, Partner at ECI, comments: "Commify has built a differentiated position in an exciting global market, and with messaging becoming the number one customer engagement channel, there is a clear and compelling growth opportunity across Europe, the US and Australia. We're delighted to be partnering with Richard and the Commify team to support them on further organic and acquisitive growth for the next stage of their journey."
Nick Jordan, Partner at Hg comments: "The investment from ECI is a big milestone for the management and staff at Commify. We have been incredibly proud to support the business as it expanded into multiple new European geographies and the US, more than doubling the size of business in doing so. We wish the team well for the future, in partnership with ECI."
Advisors to ECI: Houlihan Lokey, Squire Patton Boggs, EY
Advisors to Commify: Moelis & Company, Linklaters, EY, Strategy&, Liberty Corporate Finance, Baker Botts, KPMG
For further details:
Hg
Tom Eckersley +44 (0)208 148 5401
HGT
Laura Dixon +44 (0)20 8396 0930
Brunswick
Azadeh Varzi +44 (0)207 404 5959
Hg@brunswickgroup.com
About HgCapital Trust plc
HgCapital Trust plc, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: HGT.L), gives investors exposure through a liquid vehicle to a portfolio of high-growth private companies in the software and services sector. The selection of new investments and creation of value in these businesses are managed by Hg, an experienced and well-resourced private equity firm with a long-term track record of delivering superior risk-adjusted returns for its investors. For further details, please see www.hgcapitaltrust.com.
The contents of the Hg, HgCapital Trust, Commify and ECI Partners websites are not incorporated into, and do not form part of, this announcement.
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