HgCapital has sold ATC to Intertrust for an enterprise value of EUR303m.
This realisation represents an investment multiple of approximately 2.2x original cost and a gross IRR of 37 per cent over the two year investment period for HgCapital’s clients.
HgCapital completed its investment into Amsterdam-based ATC in March 2011. ATC had been independent since 1893 and HgCapital was the first external investor in the business. ATC provides fiduciary, management and administration services to multinational corporations, financial institutions and fund managers. The fiduciary services segment was identified as a high growth and robust market by HgCapital’s services team over four years ago.
HgCapital has taken an active approach to managing its investment in ATC throughout its ownership period. Working closely with ATC’s management, led by chief executive Johan Lont, HgCapital has primarily focused on driving future growth; supporting increased investment into building a larger sales force and enhancing the firm’s internal training and development programme. Under HgCapital’s ownership, ATC has achieved accelerated organic growth, with revenues up 11 per cent and EBITDA up 14 per cent per annum over the last two years.
ATC represents the third realisation from the 2009 vintage HgCapital 6 fund, with the exits achieved to date delivering an overall return to clients of 2.8x original cost and a gross IRR of over 50 per cent. Following the sale of ATC, which is expected to formally complete in September 2013 following regulatory approval, the HgCapital 6 fund will have returned over 40 per cent of invested capital back to clients. The realisation also represents the 17th exit achieved by HgCapital since the onset of the financial crisis in the autumn of 2008 and the fourth exit in the last 12 months, following the sales of CSH, Mercury Pharma and SHL, which in aggregate have returned 2.9x original cost back to clients with a 35 per cent gross IRR.
Matthew Rourke (pictured), head of the services team at HgCapital, says: “We are delighted with the strong progress ATC has made in partnership with HgCapital. We had a simple investment thesis of focusing on higher value corporate clients, and supporting accelerated organic growth through investment in sales resource and training. Strong execution from the industry’s leading management team means we have seen a real acceleration in both revenues and profits in our ownership period. The success of our investment in ATC comes in large part from years of adhering to our sector focused investment strategy, which enables us to identify strong companies with outstanding growth potential and then support management to achieve those objectives.”
Lont says: “HgCapital has added real value to ATC, both by actively supporting management as we sought to build the size and expertise of our sales teams, but also in terms of their deep understanding of the markets in which we operate. We have very much enjoyed working with HgCapital and look forward to the future with real confidence.”
HgCapital was advised by Lazard, Weil, Gotshal & Manges and PwC.
