Hispanolistic
A buyout consortium is reconsidering its pursuit of European online classified ads company Adevinta ASA (OTCPK:ADEVF) due to an inability to bridge a price gap with the buyers and sellers.
A consortium backed by private equity firms Permira and Blackstone Inc. (BX) plans to take the deal back to its investment committee, according to a Bloomberg report on Sunday, which cited people familiar with the matter. The market outlook has declined significantly since news of the bid first came out last month. Adevinta is backed by EBay and has a market cap of about $11.4 billion.
Permira and Blackstone (BX) haven’t yet been to work out a gap on price expectations with the special board committee of Adevinta (OTCPK:ADEVF) independent directors that’s reviewing the bid, according to the report. The investor group, which also includes the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, hasn’t decided on its plans and may still decide to go ahead with an offer.
Adevinta’s (OTCPK:ADEVF) stock has jumped 21% since news of the buyout interest was first reported on Sept. 21, when Adevinta acknowledged receiving a non-binding indicative takeover offer. EBay, at the time, said it expressed support for the proposal. Adevinta shares have surged 58% this year.
Norwegian-based Adevinta (OTCPK:ADEVF) acquired eBay’s (NASDAQ:EBAY) online classifieds business in a $9.2 billion cash and stock deal inked in 2021.
Germany’s Manager Magazin first reported news of the special committee’s concerns with the PE consortium’s bid on Thurday.