REG - HgCapital Trust PLC - Hg agrees to sale of Commify to ECI Partners

HgCapital TrustAnnouncement

05/09/2023 08:00

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RNS Number : 1864L  HgCapital Trust PLC  05 September 2023

Hg, the Manager of HgCapital Trust plc ("HGT"), today announces that it has
agreed the sale of Commify, the UK-headquartered European leader in business
messaging solutions to Local Enterprises, to ECI Partners.

 

The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed and completion is subject
to closing conditions.

 

HGT, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, gives private and
institutional investors the opportunity to participate in all Hg's
investments.

 

This transaction values HGT's investment in Commify at approximately £21.9
million. This would represent an uplift of £5.3 million (32% or 1.2 pence per
share) over the carrying value of £16.6 million in the Net Asset Value
("NAV") of HGT at 31 March 2023.

 

Note that these figures only relate to HgCapital Trust's share of Hg's overall
investment in Commify.

 

Based on the 31 March 2023 reported NAV, the pro-forma NAV of the Trust is
expected to be £2.2 billion (or 475.3 pence per share).  HGT's available
liquid resources, which includes the undrawn bank facility of £350 million
for future deployment (including all announced transactions and the final
dividend paid in May) are estimated to be £688 million (32% of the pro-forma
31 March 2023 NAV).

 

HGT will be announcing its interim results to 30 June 2023 on 18 September
2023.

ECI Partners invests in Commify, Europe's leading provider of business

messaging solutions to Local Enterprises

London, 5 September 2023: ECI Partners, the leading growth-focused mid-market
private equity firm, today announces its investment in Commify, the
UK-headquartered European leader in business messaging solutions to Local
Enterprises. The deal, valued at €300 million, provides a full realisation
for Hg, a leading investor in European and transatlantic software and services
businesses, that has backed Commify's transformation since 2016.

Commify's integrated solutions enable over 45,000 customers to communicate
with their customers and staff, sending over 5 billion messages per year,
covering a range of business critical use cases from appointment confirmations
to emergency alerts, via a range of channels including SMS, WhatsApp, RCS,
email and voice.

The business is a long-established leader in the European Local Enterprise
segment, complemented by fast-growing operations in the US and Australia. It
operates at global scale, taken to market locally in each country via both its
global solutions brand Esendex and local self-serve brands. Commify has
completed 16 complementary acquisitions in the last decade, and the investment
from ECI will support further acquisitions across both existing and new
countries, as well as to accelerate future platform and product
development.

Richard Hanscott, CEO, Commify: "With Hg's backing in recent years we have
built a highly differentiated market leading business, with material
investment in both M&A and our business messaging platform. ECI's
ownership will allow us to accelerate our investment in new products and
services, including our growing range of messaging channels such as WhatsApp.
Alongside this we are excited to continue to drive expansion through further
acquisitions in both existing and new countries. Commify is perfectly
positioned to continue to deliver high quality, sustainable growth. This is a
very exciting time for Commify, our customers and our employees as we look
forward to further strong growth supported by ECI's significant investment."

Paul McCreadie, Partner at ECI, comments: "Commify has built a differentiated
position in an exciting global market, and with messaging becoming the number
one customer engagement channel, there is a clear and compelling growth
opportunity across Europe, the US and Australia. We're delighted to be
partnering with Richard and the Commify team to support them on further
organic and acquisitive growth for the next stage of their journey."

Nick Jordan, Partner at Hg comments: "The investment from ECI is a big
milestone for the management and staff at Commify. We have been incredibly
proud to support the business as it expanded into multiple new European
geographies and the US, more than doubling the size of business in doing so.
We wish the team well for the future, in partnership with ECI."

 

Advisors to ECI: Houlihan Lokey, Squire Patton Boggs, EY

Advisors to Commify: Moelis & Company, Linklaters, EY, Strategy&,
Liberty Corporate Finance, Baker Botts, KPMG

 

For further details:

 

Hg

Tom Eckersley
 
+44 (0)208 148 5401

 

HGT

Laura
Dixon
+44 (0)20 8396 0930

 

Brunswick

Azadeh
Varzi
+44 (0)207 404 5959

Hg@brunswickgroup.com

 

About HgCapital Trust plc

 

HgCapital Trust plc, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange
(ticker: HGT.L), gives investors exposure through a liquid vehicle to a
portfolio of high-growth private companies in the software and services
sector. The selection of new investments and creation of value in these
businesses are managed by Hg, an experienced and well-resourced private equity
firm with a long-term track record of delivering superior risk-adjusted
returns for its investors. For further details, please see
www.hgcapitaltrust.com.

 

The contents of the Hg, HgCapital Trust, Commify and ECI Partners websites are
not incorporated into, and do not form part of, this announcement.

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