Adevinta nets record-breaking €4.5B private credit loan to back €14B buyout

Permira and Blackstone's agreed bid to buy online classified group Adevinta is backed by a €4.5 billion loan provided by a club of private credit funds, led by CPPIB, Blackstone Private Credit and GIC, according to sources. The deal — which was announced on Tuesday — values the Oslo-listed company's equity at NOK141 billion (€12.2 billion).

Other big lenders on the deal include ICG, Sixth Street Partners, and Goldman Sachs AM, sources said. Including debt, the sources added the deal reaches a valuation of roughly €14 billion. Permira and Blackstone did not provide any financing details in their statement, but said they would repay and cancel all of Adevinta’s loans as well as the group’s €660 million tranche of secured notes due 2025, and €400 million tranche of secured notes due 2028. The debt dated from a €2.4 billion-equivalent, cross-border financing priced in October 2020 that backed Adevinta’s acquisition of eBay’s classified business.

Adevinta first disclosed it had received the Permira and Blackstone offer on Sept. 22. The buyers were said to have been looking at both a distributed and private debt financing to support the bid, though bankers admitted during the process that syndicated markets could struggle to provide such a large ticket denominated only in euros. Investment firms General Atlantic and TCV have also joined the consortium of Permira and Blackstone in funding the deal. On top of the financing, Adevinta will also receive a €250 million RCF, according to a source, that will take the total size of the financing to €4.75 billion. 

The record private debt buyout financing — at €4.5 billion, this deal brings the largest single private credit facility yet agreed in Europe, according to transactions tracked by LCD News since 2015 — also includes other lender groups, including Apollo Global Management, Arcmont, Blue Owl, CDPQ, PSP, Oaktree Capital Management and Oak Hill Advisors, the people aware about the deal said. "It's a huge direct lending for Europe and it's a huge club of lenders," said one of the lenders on the transaction. The lender added that the unitranche priced around 575 bps. Bloomberg first reported on the lender group.

The offer of NOK115 per share gives a 54% premium to Adevinta’s weighted price of NOK74.58 for the three months to Sept. 19.

In a statement, Permira said this offer — which comes at a significant premium — provides "compelling value", certainty and optionality for shareholders, who are given the opportunity to roll over in whole or in part.

Adevinta's board did not formerly recommend the offer in the statement, but said it was in the "range of what is fair". In a separate statement, 28.1% shareholder eBay said it would sell 50% of its shares for an estimated $2.2 billion and exchange the remaining shares for an equity stake of 20% in the new company. The buyers would also have the option for six months after closing to buy further shares from eBay that could reduce the US company’s holding in the new Adevinta to 9.99%.

Adevinta was spun out of Schibsted through a 2019 IPO. Schibsted, an Oslo-based media group, remains the largest shareholder in Adevinta with a 30% stake, and will also become a shareholder in the new company. Permira is the third-largest shareholder with an 11.2% stake.

The offer is being made through Aurelia Bidco Norway.

CPPIB, Blackstone Private Credit, BlueOwl, CDPQ, Sixth Street, Arcmont, GSAM and PSP all declined to comment when contacted by LCD, while GIC, Oaktree, Oakhill, and ICG did not respond to emails seeking comment.

This article originally appeared on PitchBook News