Partial sale of team.blue to CPP Investments

HgCapital Trust PLC

10 July 2024

 

Hg, the Manager of HgCapital Trust plc ("HgT"), today announces that it has agreed the partial sale of its investment in team.blue to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ("CPP Investments").

CPP Investments joins Hg as well as founder and President of team.blue Jonas Dhaenens and co-founder Ali Niknam, who remain cornerstone investors alongside the wider management team led by CEO Claudio Corbetta. Hg remains the largest single investor in team.blue.

The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed and is subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals.

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 team.blue at approximately £95.0 million. This would represent an uplift of £21.8 million (30% or 4.8 pence per share) over the carrying value of £73.2 million in the Net Asset Value ("NAV") of HgT at 31 March 2024. HgT will receive a net realisation of approximately £32.6 million from team.blue, having re-invested a portion of its proceeds in the business alongside other institutional clients of Hg. HgT's exposure to team.blue will be £62.4 million at closing representing approximately 2.6% of NAV.

Note that these figures only relate to HgT's share of Hg's overall investment in team.blue.

Based on the 31 March 2024 reported NAV, the pro-forma NAV of HgT is expected to be £2.4 billion (or 516.0 pence per share).  HgT's available liquid resources, which includes the undrawn bank facility of £375 million for future deployment (including all announced transactions and the final dividend paid in May) are estimated to be £624 million (26% of the pro-forma 31 March 2024 NAV).

team.blue welcomes new investment from CPP Investments in transaction worth €4.8bn

-     Investment supports team.blue's  position as Europe's leading digital enabler for entrepreneurs and SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses).

-     The transaction values team.blue at €4.8bn making it one of the largest privately owned technology companies in Europe, serving 3.3m SMBs/entrepreneurs across 22 European countries with an unbroken 20y+ growth track record.

-     The investment is a significant milestone for the team, implying growth of eight-times since Hg first invested in 2019. Today team.blue has more than 2,500 fully committed colleagues, including many tech entrepreneurs who have joined the group and continue to build the business.

-     This new investment will support team.blue's growth strategy, underpinned by a vision to provide ever more valuable online tools for businesses, with further AI-led product innovation.

-     CPP Investments joins Hg as well as founder and President of team.blue Jonas Dhaenens and co-founder Ali Niknam, who remain cornerstone investors alongside the wider management team led by CEO Claudio Corbetta. Hg remains the largest single investor in team.blue.

-     Hg will provide further funds to fuel product innovation and expansion through acquisitions.

Gent, Belgium. 10^th July, 2024. team.blue, Europe's leading digital enabler for entrepreneurs and SMBs, today welcomes a significant investment from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ("CPP Investments".)

Today the business represents one of the largest European digital solution providers to 3.3m SMB customers across 22 countries. team.blue continues to expand its product offering to cover all end-to-end and evolving needs of customers, helping them to remain relevant, competitive and successful in their digital journey. These solutions are designed to enhance security, ensure GDPR compliance, boost visitor attraction and conversion rates, improve customer engagement through various marketing tools and to assist in both online and offline commerce strategies.

The transaction values team.blue at €4.8bn making it one of the largest privately owned technology companies in Europe. This investment represents an important milestone for the group - today team.blue has more than 2,500 fully committed colleagues, including many tech entrepreneurs that have joined, and thrived, with the business over the past five years to continue its dynamic culture. team.blue is actively investing in innovative products by joining forces with leading SaaS companies in Europe that share the same vision.

Jonas Dhaenens, Founder and President, Claudio Corbetta, CEO, and Dawn Marriott, Executive Chair of team.blue said: "This is a truly significant moment for our team and the many entrepreneurs who have joined us over the years. We are delighted to welcome CPP Investments, a leading global institutional investor with values that closely align with our own. CPP Investment's approach as a long-term patient capital investor is perfectly suited to our vision for sustained growth. Alongside our existing shareholders, CPP Investments recognises the growth ahead, underpinned by our plan to provide increasingly relevant online tools for businesses. We thank Hg for their continued support and warmly welcome CPP Investments as we pursue our ambitious growth plans together."

"team.blue operates in an attractive, resilient and growing online presence sector. Under its current leadership, the business has executed on a successful M&A strategy to expand its product offerings and local presence across multiple European countries," said Hafiz Lalani, Managing Director, Global Head of Direct Private Equity, CPP Investments. "We look forward to working alongside Hg, a long-standing partner to CPP Investments, and the team.blue founders and leadership team, to support the platform as it continues on its journey to deliver on multiple growth vectors by expanding its portfolio of SaaS solutions, while delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns for CPP contributors and beneficiaries."

Joris Van Gool, Nick Jordan and Matthijs Deroo at Hg said: "It's been incredible to see our thesis play out over the last five years, with team.blue evolving into one of the largest tech platforms in Europe. Together we are building a multibillion category leader, offering multiple propositions for an ever-wider group of SMBs, enabling both online presence and better business success. We are proud of these achievements, partnering with multiple entrepreneurs who are now part of the group, and with ambitious plans to welcome many more in years to come. And today we welcome CPP Investments as a new partner, whose well-placed trust in a highly capable management supports a strong outlook for growth."

team.blue was advised by Arma Partners, EY, Bain, Deloitte, Linklaters and BearingPoint; team.blue's shareholders were advised by Harris Williams, KPMG, MacFarlanes and Norbruis Clement; and CPP Investments was advised by Kirkland & Ellis, JP Morgan, OC&C and KPMG.

This transaction has been signed and is subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals.

For further details:

Hg

Tom Eckersley                                                                                     [phone]

HgT

Laura Dixon                                                                                        [phone]

Brunswick

Azadeh Varzi                                                                                       [phone]

[e-mail]

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, HgT, CPP Investments and team.blue websites are not incorporated into, and do not form part of, this announcement.

 

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