Providence seals investment in Five Arrows’ A2Mac1, company believed to be valued at up to €1.4bn

Providence Equity Partners has agreed to buy into French automotive data firm A2Mac1 in a deal previously reported to be worth up to €1.4bn.

The buyout house is understood to have overcome interest from private equity rivals EQT and TA Associates to invest in the business, a previous report from Reuters said.

Providence’s deal comes five years after Rothschild’s European private equity arm Five Arrows Principal Investments bought the company in a transaction worth more than €200m.

Five Arrows and A2MAC1’s management team will reinvest their proceeds from the transaction.

A2Mac1 provides vehicle data and analysis tools and benchmarking services to the car industry, and is used by more than 650,000 users from over 500 customers.

Acquisitions made during Five Arrows’ ownership include Adaccess, ecs, Improvalue, Coram and Effution.

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A statement from Providence Europe co-head Karim Tabet and North America co-head Davis Noell said, “We believe A2MAC1 is an outstanding business that is poised to benefit from strong tailwinds as the automotive and mobility industry evolves and demands new technologies, intelligence, and efficiencies.

“In many ways, A2MAC1 is at an early stage, and we see great potential for its continued growth through providing more value to its global OEM and OES customers.”

A separate statement from Five Arrows co-managing partner Emmanuel Roth and managing director Nicolas Robin added, “Since our investment in 2017, we have made it our mission to continuously enhance the strategic positioning of A2MAC1.

“Through continued platform and strategy development under the exceptional leadership of Frank Bunte, combined with product-led M&A, the company has more than tripled in size, becoming the undisputed global leader in automotive benchmarking insights and SaaS.

“We are delighted to continue to support A2MAC1 as it embarks on the next phase of its growth.”

Reports emerged late last year that Providence was heading back into the fundraising market eyeing up to $6bn for its latest flagship fund.

Providence raised more than $6bn for the final close of its eighth flagship fund three years ago, above its $5bn target.

The firm had previously raised $12bn raised for its sixth fund in 2006, near the height of the private equity buyout boom before the onset of the global financial crisis squeezed fund sizes.

Source: AltAssets

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