Cerved Information Solutions spa, parent holding of Cerved Group, the leading credit information company in Italy, has filed a request with Borsa Italiana for the admission to list and trade its ordinary shares on the Mercato Telematico Azionario. The company has concurrently filed a request with the Italian markets authority Consob for the
approval of the Prospectus concerning the Public Offering and listing of its shares (download here the English press release).
The group might be valued (enterprise value) till 2 billion euros using actual ebitda multiples for Experian, a global leader of credit information services listed at the London Stock Exchange, MF-Milano FInanza writes today. Cerved had 310 million euros of revenues in 2013 (from 292 millions in 2012) with around 150 millions in ebitda (from 143 millions) and thinking of a stable growth in 2014 , ebitda will be aroung 160 million this year. So using the Experian 12.4x multiple, Cerved enterprise value might reach 2 billion euros. Instead using 10.5-11x ebitda multiples of Dun&Bradstreet, the US company listed at the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, value for Cerved goes down to around 1.7 billions (see a previous post of BeBeez)
CVC Capital Partners acquired Cerved in January 2013 from previous private equity owners Bain Capital and Clessidra sgr for 1.13 billion euros, after the group generated revenues of 292 million euros in 2012 with a 143 millions ebitda and a 287 million euros net financial debt. SO Cerved listing will gain a big deal for CVC’s Italian team led by Giampiero Mazza.
With 1.7-2 billion euros enterprise value and 700 millions in net financial debt (it was 740 million in December 2013), Cerved equity value would be 1-1,3 billions. Listing will be limited to 40 pct stake of the shareholding capital so ipo value would be around 400-500 million euros.
The Global Coordinators for the transaction are Banca IMI, JP Morgan, Mediobanca and UniCredit. BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and HSBC have been appointed as Joint Bookrunners. UniCredit will act as Lead Manager for the Retail Offering. Banca IMI will act as Sponsor, while Lazard will be the Advisor.
Gattai, Minoli & Partners and Latham & Watkins acted as legal counsel for Cerved, Chiomenti and White & Case for the Global Coordinators. PwC is the appointed independent auditor, Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati and Facchini Rossi & Soci are the tax advisors.
