VCT News
Beringea agrees terms with the Financial Times Group for sale of Mergermarket
Beringea to receive total return of 14x initial investment
8 August 2006 - International private equity firm, Beringea, announced today that it has agreed terms for the sale of portfolio company Mergermarket to the Financial Times Group, a subsidiary of Pearson plc, the global media company. The sale is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to complete in Q3 2006 and will generate a total return of 14x the original investment for Beringea and an IRR of 69%.
Beringea first invested in Mergermarket through Global Rights Fund II (GRF II), ProVen VCT and ProVen Growth & Income VCT (PGI VCT) in July 2001. On completion of the transaction ProVen VCT and PGI VCT will see their respective Net Asset Values (NAV’s) rise to approximately 133p per share (an uplift of c. 25p) and around 169p per share (an uplift of c. 38p). The Beringea Funds will receive total consideration of c. £27 million from the sale.
Mergermarket was founded in 2000. Its products and services provide the global advisory and corporate communities with intelligence, data and analysis via the mergermarket, dealReporter, Debtwire and wealthmonitor online platforms. Mergermarket has regional head offices in London, New York and Hong Kong and employs over 160 journalists in 46 locations worldwide. The company has over 350 full time employees, of which 50 are in Asia-Pacific and 90 in North America.
Pearson Plc is an international media company with market-leading businesses in education, business information and consumer publishing: Pearson Education, the world’s leading educational publishing company, The Financial Times Group, and the world-famous Penguin Group.
Commenting on the deal, Stuart Veale, Managing Director of Beringea, said: "We are delighted with the proposed sale of Mergermarket to Pearson Plc. The company has performed exceptionally well since our initial investment five years ago. By developing a range of high quality products and through superb execution of a rapid international roll-out, Mergermarket has achieved phenomenal growth in sales and profits. This has been an extremely successful investment for Beringea which has delivered outstanding returns for our investors."
Caspar Hobbs, Chief Executive of Mergermarket, said: "Beringea invested in Mergermarket at a critical time for the business. We had a vision of how we wanted to grow the business, particularly that we wanted to launch in the United States. The strategy was daunting and market conditions were poor. Despite this Beringea believed in our commitment and had the courage to invest when others didn't. Since then they have been fantastically supportive shareholders at every phase of the business, and have greatly assisted in our successful growth. We are truly excited now about growing our business within the FT Group."
Hawkpoint and Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw acted as financial and legal advisers, respectively, to the shareholders of Mergermarket in relation to its sale to Pearson Plc.
About Beringea
Beringea is an international venture capital firm with offices in London and Detroit. In the UK Beringea manages ProVen VCT, ProVen Health VCT, ProVen Growth & Income VCT and Global Rights Fund II. Beringea launched its first VCT in 1996, making it one of the most experienced VCT managers in the UK. ProVen Growth & Income and ProVen VCT are highest performing VCTs of their launch years, respectively, according to www.taxefficientreview.com. For more information please visit www.provenvcts.co.uk.