British private equity firm Oakley Capital announced the sale of German hosting provider Host Europe in a secondary buyout.
PE house Montagu Private Equity acquired the company for £222m. Oakley acted as co-adviser alongside NM Rothschild on the…
British private equity firm Oakley Capital announced the sale of German hosting provider Host Europe in a secondary buyout.
PE house Montagu Private Equity acquired the company for £222m. Oakley acted as co-adviser alongside NM Rothschild on the transaction. Boston Consulting Group and Deloitte were reportedly advising Montagu. To be completed, the transaction needs to be approved by Germany’s Federal Cartel Office.
Oakley acquired Host Europe in 2008 for £128m from British commercial ISP Pipex, in a deal that also included Vialtus Solutions. The latter was then sold to internet and telecom services provider Daisy Group in 2009. Oakley founder Peter Dubens used to run Pipex. The PE firm’s portfolio includes a 14% stake in Daisy Group.
“This is the 21st deal mandate completed by Oakley since November 2007 and one of the largest transactions we have been involved in. The deal further underlines our experience and network in the international hosting sector where we are seeing a strong forward pipeline of new business,” said Chris Godsmark, joint managing partner of Oakley.
Host Europe also operates Web Fusion, a UK website domain registration services provider. In a separate statement, Montagu said it plans to integrate the two businesses. The move will likely help enhance efficiency and cut costs. Montagu said it has around E2.5bn of funds and assets under management.
