Nets welcomes US$5.3bil takeover bid by Hellman & Friedman

COPENHAGEN: Payments firm Nets has welcomed a 33.1 billion Danish crown (US$5.3bil) bid from US firm Hellman & Friedman, marking what could be one of the largest European private equity takeovers in recent years.

Nets said in July it had been approached by potential buyers as the industry sees a wave of deals, with consumers switching to card and mobile payments and regulatory changes promising to open up the fragmented market.

The Danish firm was taken public in Copenhagen a year ago and was valued at 30 billion crowns, or 150 crowns per share, double what Advent International, Bain Capital and Danish pension fund ATP had paid for it two years earlier.

Other recent takeover targets have included Worldpay and Paysafe.

“We see an opportunity under private partnership to harness the expertise from the Nordic region which is one of the most dynamic and have the financial flexibility to examine consolidation,” Patrick Healy, deputy chief executive officer at Hellman & Friedman, told Reuters.

The price would imply a valuation for Nets of 13 times 2018 enterprise-value-to-EBITDA, in line with the sector average, UBS wrote in a research note.

Hellman & Friedman’s offer of 165 crowns per share represents a 27% premium to Nets’ share price as of June 30, before Nets said it had been approached by potential buyers.

Nets shares rose 6.4% on Monday.