Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) has sold its portfolio company BCA, one of Europe’s largest used vehicle marketplaces, to Haversham Holdings in a transaction valued at approximately £1.2 billion. Shareholders of BCA, which include CD&R funds, will receive £701 million in cash and £104 million in stock. The transaction is expected to close in early April.
BCA (British Car Auctions) is one of Europe’s largest vehicle auction and remarketing companies. The company annually sells over £4 billion of used vehicles, ranging from nearly-new and ex-lease vehicles to budget and older products. BCA operates in 13 countries and sold approximately 1 million vehicles and purchased more than 140,000 cars in 2014. The company was founded in 1946 and is located southwest of London in Farnham, UK (www.bca-group.com).
CD&R acquire BCA in February 2010. During its term of ownership BCA diversified its business by adding a vehicle buying unit through the acquisition of WeBuyAnyCar.com and expanded in continental Europe and Brazil. The result was an increase in EBITDA of approximately 85% under CD&R’s ownership.
“We have been delighted with our investment in BCA. The operating improvements and growth initiatives implemented with management under our ownership have transformed BCA from a traditional used vehicle physical auction business into a multi-channel marketplace,” said CD&R Partner David Novak.
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice focuses on producing financial returns through building stronger more profitable businesses. Since inception, the firm has managed the investment of more than $21 billion in 63 businesses representing a range of industries with an aggregate transaction value of approximately $100 billion. Founded in 1978, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is based in New York and London (www.cdr-inc.com).
Haversham Holdings, the buyer of BCA, is a publicly traded private equity firm that acquires companies with enterprise values between £250 million and £1 billion. Sectors of interest include automotive, support services, leasing, engineering and manufacturing. The firm was founded in November 2014 and is headquartered in London (www.havershamholdings.com).
HSBC Bank, JP Morgan, Rothschild and UBS acted as financial advisors to CD&R in connection with the transaction. Clifford Chance and Debevoise & Plimpton were CD&R’s legal advisors. Ernst & Young acted as accounting advisor.
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 3-26-15