LONDON, UK: Apex Group has made an offer to acquire all shares of Sanne Group plc at the rate of 920 pence/share, which values Sanne Group’s entire share capital at approximately £1.51 billion.

“The boards of directors of Sanne Group plc and Apex Acquisition Company Limited have reached agreement on the terms and conditions of a recommended all cash acquisition of the entire issued, and to be issued, ordinary share capital of Sanne,” a news release said.

The combined group will be one of the largest services providers to the alternative assets space with over $2.2 trillion of assets on the platform and become a leader in closed-end fund services with over $1 trillion of assets under administration from closed-ended funds.

The cash consideration payable to the Sanne Shareholders under the terms of the Acquisition implies a multiple of 28.8x enterprise value to underlying 2020 EBITDA and a multiple of 40.7x P/E for underlying 2020 profit.

The Sanne Directors, who have been so advised by Jefferies and J.P. Morgan Cazenove as to the financial terms of the Acquisition, consider the terms of the Acquisition to be fair and reasonable.

The Acquisition is expected to become Effective in the first half of 2022, subject to satisfaction (or, where applicable, waiver) of the Conditions and further terms set out in Appendix 1 to this Announcement.

Sanne offers an exciting opportunity for Apex to acquire a well-established specialist alternative fund services provider.

Apex Acquisition Company recognises the notable journey Sanne has taken over the years, developing into a leading services provider to closed-ended and open-ended funds and ManCos, with diverse jurisdictional and asset class expertise, led by an impressive management team. There is clear and strong strategic rationale for the Acquisition.

Commenting on this Announcement, Rupert Robson, the Chairman of Sanne, 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.”

Peter Hughes, the CEO and Founder of the Apex Group, said: “Sanne offers an exciting opportunity for Apex to acquire a well-established alternative fund services provider with diverse and complementary jurisdictional and asset class expertise. We have long followed Sanne’s successful strategy of delivering “local excellence on a global platform” and we believe that as part of the Apex Group this could be an increasingly compelling offering for current and future clients.

We are confident that a combination of our businesses to create one of the largest global service providers to the alternative assets space with over $2.2 trillion of assets serviced, will facilitate even greater success for both companies while representing attractive value for Sanne’s shareholders.”

Sanne Group PLC share price

932.33 GBX−10.67 (1.13%)today

25 Aug, 4:42 pm GMT+1 ·Disclaimer