Software company to be acquired at 11.5x multiple
Summary
The company is set to be acquired by Cafe Bidco Ltd, a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of investment funds managed by private equity investor Pollen Street Capital formed for the purposes of the deal. Proactis’ recent half-year report, to January 31 2021, show a marked improvement on its previous full year results. The company provides specialist spend management software services, serving more than 1,000 organisations worldwide, with operations in the UK, USA, Germany and France. Whilst we remain excited about the prospects for the business, we have been in discussions with Bidco and received a proposal that we believe is compelling for all of our stakeholders.” "We are pleased that Bidco is supportive of the acceleration of Proactis existing strategy and believe that Proactis will benefit from Pollen Street Capitals considerable financial resources, longer-term approach to value creation, and significant experience in successfully backing high-growth businesses to achieve their full potential.” "As a result of the Acquisition, we believe Proactis will be both nimbler in executing its strategy and able to build a business capable of sustainable longer-term growth." We believe Proactis would strongly benefit from a return to private ownership with the support of a growth-focused shareholder, which would enable Proactis to accelerate its plans to capitalise on a clear market opportunity.” "Pollen Street Capital has strong heritage in supporting companies with the potential to be market leaders in the financial and business services sectors, and we are excited by the opportunity to work with Proactis and its team in achieving its ambitious goals."