Capco has exchanged and completed on the sale of Venues, its exhibition business, comprising Olympia London together with certain related property assets, for a total gross cash consideration of £296 million (the “Disposal”).
Venues has been sold to a consortium of German institutional investors, which includes Bayerische Versorgungskammer (Germany’s largest manager of public pension schemes investing through a fund managed by Universal-Investment) as the single largest shareholder, the Versicherungskammer Bayern Group (Germany’s largest public insurer) and DFI European Value Add Fund (together the “Consortium”). The Consortium is advised by investment firm Deutsche Finance International and Yoo Capital, as UK co-investor. Capco has been advised by Rothschild and CBRE on this transaction.
The Disposal is for a total gross consideration of £296 million (before net debt and working capital adjustments)
After repayment of debt, working capital adjustments and transaction-related costs, net proceeds are approximately £229 million, in line with the net asset value of Venues
The Disposal provides an opportunity for Capco to realise significant cash proceeds which will be used initially to repay bank debt and subsequent to this, for deployment in Capco’s core central London estates, as well as to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
Following the Disposal, Capco’s pro-forma LTV as at 31 December 2016 decreases from 23 per cent to 17 per cent
Ian Hawksworth, Chief Executive of Capco, commented:
“We are pleased to announce the sale of Olympia London to the Consortium. Following the successful transition of shows from the former Earls Court exhibition centres and our strategic investment in recent years, Olympia London is now established as the preferred central London venue for premium shows. Now that the period of transition is complete, it is the right time for Capco to exit its ownership of the venue. It has been our privilege to be part of the rich history of this historic venue, and we wish the business and management team great success under its new ownership.
The completion of this transaction delivers value for our shareholders and will position Capco to concentrate effort and resources on our two exceptional central London estates at Covent Garden and Earls Court, as well as further enhance our financial flexibility to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.”
Venues is an exhibition business, comprising Olympia London together with certain related property assets.
Capco acquired full control of the Earls Court & Olympia London venues and operating business in 2009. Earls Court and Olympia London were run as one business until the permanent closure of Earls Court at the end of 2014. In the run-up to the closure of Earls Court, Capco successfully transitioned over 80 per cent of shows from Earls Court to Olympia London. In addition, Capco invested £30 million in Olympia London establishing it as the preferred central London venue for premium shows.
Venues generated an EBITDA of £19.0 million and profit after tax of £11.8 million for the year ended 31 December 2016. Venues had gross assets of £313.0 million as at 31 December 2016.
The Disposal has been effected by way of a sale of the entire issued share capital of Olympia Exhibitions Group Limited.