Six Nations stakeholder CVC hires Goldman to plot £11bn IPO
London-based private equity giant CVC Capital Partners is reportedly working with Goldman Sachs to prepare to follow in Bridgepoint’s footsteps with a blockbuster stock market listing.
CVC, which boasts Six Nations rugby and RAC among its portfolio, is working with the bank on a potential float that could value it at up to £11bn, the Times reported, without citing a source.
Meanwhile, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that CVC has not mandated any banks and is not “actively preparing” an IPO, but that it continues to discuss the option internally, having received several proposals from banks.
If CVC were to list in London, it would become just the fourth private equity firm to make the rare move and go public in the UK. But it would follow hot on the heels of rival Bridgepoint, whose IPO in July this year was the first major listing by a UK buyout group in almost three decades.
Bridgepoint’s float received a warm welcome by London’s markets, and its shares have gained 35 per cent since listing – an encouraging sign for PE groups contemplating what has traditionally been a very rare move. But even then, its £3.6bn IPO would be dwarfed by CVC’s potential valuation.
Before Bridgepoint, only 3i Group and Intermediate Capital Group sat on London’s public markets, having both listed in London in 1994 – before Bridgepoint was even formed in 2000.
Since 1994, the largest private equity firms had stayed privately owned.
It’s been a bumper year for private equity groups, who have found themselves awash with dry powder after a pandemic pause in dealmaking.
Investors have continued to capitalise on low interest rates and pour record sums into funds, which, coupled with an array of companies left reeling after the pandemic, has spurred a flurry of dealmaking – including US PE group CD&R’s £10bn takeover of Morrisons, the UK’s biggest buyout in more than a decade.
Only last month, CVC swooped in on Unilever’s tea business for £3.4bn, outbidding rivals Advent and Carlyle in an auction process.
The new unit has been renamed Ekaterra, and includes PG Tips and Lipton among its portfolio of 34 household names.