Silver Lake to explore sale of tax-free shopping firm Global Blue-sources

Global Blue Holding

15/08/2023 18:12

By Milana Vinn and Amy-Jo Crowley
       Aug 15 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Silver Lake is
preparing to explore a sale of Global Blue Group Holdings Ltd
 GB.N , a company that enables retailers to offer tax-free
shopping, after receiving expressions of interest from potential
acquirers, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. 
    The deliberations come as Global Blue recovers from the air
travel slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which weighed on
duty-free shopping. It still faces headwinds, including price
inflation and the prospect of an economic recession in Europe,
which the company says it can tackle.  
    Silver Lake has hired an investment bank to explore options
for Global Blue, which include a sale or capital market
transactions, the sources said. Other companies and private
equity firms have shown interest in acquiring Global Blue, which
is listed in New York with a market value of about $1 billion
and carried net debt of 550 million euros ($600 million) as of
the end of March, the sources added.
    The sources cautioned that a deal isn't certain and asked
not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Silver
Lake declined to comment, while Global Blue did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
    Headquartered in Signy, Switzerland, Global Blue provides
technology that reimburses retailers for making shopping
tax-free for consumers. It serves more than 400,000 merchant
stores in over 50 countries.
    Silver Lake owns more than two-thirds of Global Blue after
acquiring it in a 1-billion-euro deal in 2012 and then merging
it with a blank-check acquisition company sponsored by Daniel
Loeb's hedge fund Third Point LLC in 2020 at a $2.6 billion
valuation. 
    Global Blue reported adjusted earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation and amortization of 78 million euros in the
12 months to the end of March, compared to a 9.9 million euro
loss in the previous 12 months, as it benefited from the travel
industry's recovery. It has said it expects the bounce-back to
continue as China reopens its travel. 

 (Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York and Amy-Jo Crowley in
London
Editing by Mark Potter)
 ((Milana.Vinn@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @MilanaVinn; Reuters
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