BC Partners LLP, a London-based alternative investment firm, is considering selling its 47% stake in Springer-Verlag GmbH (Springer Nature), a Berlin-based publishing firm and a portfolio company of the British buyout firm, to a new fund that BC Partners will form, according to FT sources.
BC Partners will invest alongside new external investors in a new fund, which may acquire BC Partners’ entire stake in Springer in a potential transaction that values the publisher at over USD 7bn.
The unconventional potential structure will offer a liquidity event to BC Partners’ existing investors who invested in Springer by allowing them to sell their stakes to a new fund, after over seven years of holding period.
Representatives of BC Partners didn’t immediately respond to AnalyzeMarkets’ request for comment.
In the past, Springer tried a few times to go public, but it couldn’t materialize. The latest attempt was just two months back when BC Partners-backed German Publisher Springer Nature Mulled USD 1.2bn IPO at USD 8.3bn Valuation.
BC Partners had acquired STM publisher Springer Science + Business Media from EQT and Singapore’s GIC for a total consideration of circa EUR 3.3bn, in August 2013, on behalf of BCEC IX, a flagship private equity fund which was closed at EUR 7bn in January 2018, according to AnalyzeMarkets Global Deals Data.
Later on, in May 2015, Springer Science + Business Media was merged with Holtzbrinck-owned Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, and the global businesses of Macmillan Education, creating Springer Nature.
Last month, AnalyzeMarkets reported that BC Partners to acquire Keesing Media Group BV, an Amsterdam-based the largest braintainment company in Europe, from Ergon Capital and Mediahuis NV.
The Potential Target:
Founded in 2015 through the merger of Springer Science + Business Media and Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, and the global businesses of Macmillan Education, Springer Nature is a research, educational and professional publisher.
Springer Nature has nearly 10,000 employees operating in nearly 50 countries worldwide and working with 90,000 editors and 750,000 peer reviewers to scrutinize over 1mn submissions a year. Its websites and platforms generate over 1.0bn downloads a year.
Springer Nature published circa 13,000 books, 340,000 articles, and 3,000 journals and generated a revenue of EUR 1.7bn, in 2019.
Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a German family-owned publishing company, owns the majority stake in the publisher with a 53% stake, while BC Partners the remaining minority stake.
Source: Analyze Markets
