Oslo-listed Link Mobility, a leading provider of mobile internet solutions, announced the closing of the acquisition of 100% of SMS Italia srl (SMS.it), a leading provider of mobile text messages in italy, founded in 1996 by a then 21-years’ old Emanuele Preda (see here the press release).
SMS.it was controlled by AP2Ventures Ltd, which in turn was owned by Horizons Ventures Ltd, an investment veichle sponsored by Asian tycoon Li Ka-shing, a leading investor in disruptive tehcnology in the world. The sellers, however, will reinvest in the deal as one third of the acquisition price will be paid in Link Mobility shares at a price of 144.8 NOK per share.
The deal is based on a 10.371 million euros enterprise value or 6.9x FY 2017 normalized ebitda which was 1.503 million euros, after 10.8 million euros of revenues. The acquisition was announced last january but the enterprise value was then imagined at 8 million euros as SMS.it’s FY 2017 ebitda was expected to be just 1.16 million euros (see here the press release). Link Mobility was advised for the deal by DLA Piper law firm, while the sellers were supported by Osborne Clarke.
Based in Milan and with offices in Bologna, SMS.it is a mobile operator owning an independent mobile network, fixed network, signalling and SS7 interconnection, and has in place interworking agreements with all the Italian mobile operators and the primary MVNO’s. The company doubled its revenues from 2015 to 2017 witnessing strong demand for its services in the Italian market.
