Searchlight Capital Partners Agrees £470M Takeover of London-listed Gresham House

Searchlight Capital Partners is set to acquire asset manager Gresham House for £469.8m

Gresham House said on Monday that it had agreed to the takeover deal from the US private equity company, which is offering 1,105 pence for each Gresham share under the final cash offer.

The offer represents a 63% premium to the London-listed company’s closing price of 680 pence on Friday.

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The deal marks the second take-private in two months for Searchlight, which teamed up with Providence Equity Partners to complete the £524m acquisition of global event organiser Hyve in June.

The Gresham House directors, who have been advised by Evercore and Blackdown Partners, intend to recommend unanimously that Gresham House shareholders vote in favour of the deal.

“The Gresham House board believes that it represents a compelling opportunity in the current challenging economic environment for shareholders to realize, with certainty, Gresham House’s potential for long-term future value creation,” said Gresham chairman Anthony Townsend.

Gresham House actively manages approximately £8bn of assets, across a footprint that spans the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, on behalf of institutions, charities and endowments, family offices, private individuals and their advisers.

Giles Marshall, partner at Searchlight, said: “We very much look forward to supporting the team in the coming years, both through capital to help drive their organic and inorganic growth plans, as well as providing access to Searchlight’s extensive international network.”

Source: Private Equity News

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