Oakley Capital agrees sale of Facile.it

RNS Number : 8788P

Oakley Capital Investments Limited

23 June 2022

 

23 June 2022

Oakley Capital Investments Limited

Oakley Capital Investments Limited¹ ("OCI") is pleased to announce that Oakley Capital Fund III² ("Fund III") has reached an agreement to sell its stake in Facile.it, Italy's largest online price comparison platform.

OCI's share of proceeds will be c.£53 million and the sale represents a c.23% premium to the 31 March 2022 carrying value, an uplift of c.6 pence per share to the Company's NAV.

Note that the above figure only relates to OCI's share of proceeds from the sale of Facile.it.

OCI's liquid resources available for future deployment (including this transaction) are estimated to be c.£200 million. 

Further details on the transaction can be found in the below announcement from Oakley Capital^3.

Oakley Capital agrees sale of Facile.it

Oakley Capital ("Oakley") is pleased to announce that Oakley Capital Fund III ("Fund III") has reached an agreement to sell its stake in Facile.it ("Facile"), Italy's largest online price comparison platform, to Silver Lake.

Fund III invested in Facile in 2018, alongside EQT Private Equity. During the course of the investment the business has continued to pioneer the Online Price Comparison market in Italy, developing innovative products that save its users hundreds of millions of euros every year. Over time, Facile has expanded its diversified product offering and unique omnichannel distribution proposition that underpin its long-term growth trajectory, allowing it to benefit from the continued market digitalisation and e-commerce penetration.

Today, Facile.it reaches a base of over four million unique monthly users via an end-to-end seamless experience across its website, 39 stores, and over three thousand agents, and has grown its EBITDA by more than 20% on average over the last four years.

Facile CEO, Tobias Stuber, commented:

"On behalf of the Facile management team and all employees, I would like to thank our investors EQT and Oakley Capital for the successful, collaborative, and highly productive partnership over the past four years on our journey towards capitalising further on our position as a landmark destination for Italy's household spending. Thanks to the support of our investors, we are in an even better position today for the next phase of our growth with our new partner Silver Lake."

Oakley Capital Managing Partner, Peter Dubens, commented:

"Our successful investment in Facile has built on our deep expertise investing in digital marketplaces including price comparison websites. We would like to thank Tobias and his team for their hard work in growing the business over the last four years, delivering vertical diversification and significant customer growth."

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For further information please contact:

Oakley Capital Limited

[phone]

Steven Tredget

Greenbrook Communications Limited

[phone]

Rob White / Michael Russell

Liberum Capital Limited (Financial Adviser & Broker)

[phone]

Chris Clarke / Darren Vickers / Owen Matthews

Notes:

LEI Number: 213800KW6MZUK12CQ815

¹  About Oakley Capital Investments Limited ("OCI")

OCI is a  Specialist Fund Segment ("SFS")  traded investment vehicle that aims to provide shareholders with consistent long-term capital growth in excess of the FTSE All-Share Index by providing liquid access to private equity returns through investment in the Oakley Funds.

A video introduction to OCI is available at  https://oakleycapitalinvestments.com/videos/

The contents of the OCI website are not incorporated into, and do not form part of, this announcement.

² The Oakley Funds

Oakley Capital Private Equity L.P. and its successor funds, Oakley Capital Private Equity II, Oakley Capital Private Equity III, Oakley Capital IV, Oakley Capital V and Oakley Capital Origin Fund are unlisted lower-mid to mid-market private equity funds that aim to provide investors with significant long-term capital appreciation. The investment strategy of the Funds is to focus on buy-out opportunities in industries with the potential for growth, consolidation and performance improvement.

³ Oakley Capital, the Investment Adviser

Founded in 2002, Oakley Capital Limited has demonstrated the repeated ability to source attractive growth assets at attractive prices. To do this it relies on its sector and regional expertise, its ability to tackle transaction complexity and its deal generating entrepreneur network.

Important information

Specialist Fund Segment securities are not admitted to the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority. Therefore, the Company has not been required to satisfy the eligibility criteria for admission to listing on the Official List and is not required to comply with the Financial Conduct Authority's Listing Rules.

The Specialist Fund Segment is intended for institutional, professional, professionally advised and knowledgeable investors who understand, or who have been advised of, the potential risk from investing in companies admitted to the Specialist Fund Segment.

This announcement may include "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements are statements regarding the Company's objectives, intentions, beliefs or current expectations with respect to, amongst other things, the Company's financial position, business strategy, results of operations, liquidity, prospects and growth. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future.  Accordingly the Company's actual future financial results, operational performance and achievements may differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the statements. Given these uncertainties, prospective investors are cautioned not to place any undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as at the date of this announcement. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect actual results or any change in the Company's expectations with regard to them or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based unless required to do so by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the Listing Rules or Prospectus Regulation Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority or other applicable laws, regulations or rules.

 

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