Stroeer considers options for 2024 sale of data business Statista -sources

Stroeer SE & Co KGaA

07/09/2023 16:01

(Adds share price movement in paragraph 6)
    By Emma-Victoria Farr and Amy-Jo Crowley
       FRANKFURT/LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - German advertising
group Stroeer is considering possible options for the sale of
Statista in 2024, in a process which could value the data
gathering business at up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion),
four sources familiar with the matter said.
    Private equity firms are looking at Statista ahead of a
formal sale process, which is likely to kick off later next
year, the sources told Reuters. 
    Another option could be to list Statista on the NASDAQ
 NDAQ.O  exchange in the US, one of the sources said. 
    Stroeer  SAXG.DE  is working with JP Morgan  JPM.N  on
strategic options for the business, two of the sources said,
speaking on condition of anonymity. 
    JPMorgan declined to comment. 
    Stroeer  SAXG.DE  shares spiked to a session high after the
news, rising as much as 4.6% and were on track for their biggest
daily jump since January.
    Deliberations are at an early stage and the timing of any
sales process is dependent on an improvement in market
conditions and therefore may not materialise, one source said.
    Statista's trading performance has fluctuated over the last
year, another source said. 
    Statista CEO Friedrich Schwandt, said in July 2022 that the
firm was expecting to grow by 20-30% annually in the medium
term, anticipating sales of around 250 million euros ($268
million) by 2025, in its latest available results. 
    Stroeer is preparing vendor due diligence together with JP
Morgan for its consumer asset Asam Beauty, with a sale to begin
in Q4, a company spokesperson said. Only once this transaction
is finished will a Statista process begin, they added.
    Stroeer said in its latest results that it was starting a
divestment process for Asam, which "will create significant
value for shareholders and underscore the value of our core
business," according to Stroeer co-CEO Christian Schmalzl. 
    Asam sits alongside Statista in Stroeer's data-as-a-service
and e-commerce division, which it has signalled as non-core to
its advertising business. 
    Statista is viewed as non-core because the rest of Stroeer
operates out-of-home advertising, online advertising and
billboards across Germany. A sale would allow Stroeer to take
advantage of high multiples in the sector, the sources said.
    Stroeer acquired a 78.8% majority stake in Statista in
December 2015 for around 57 million euros ($61 million). 
    The remaining stake in the Hamburg-based data and business
intelligence portal was held by its founders, until Stroeer
bought them out to become sole shareholder in May 2019.
    
($1 = 0.9326 euros)

 (Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr in Frankfurt and Amy-Jo
Crowley in London; Editing by John O'Donnell, Alexander Smith
and David Evans)
 ((emma-victoria.farr@thomsonreuters.com;))