Tag: Advent International

Cinven Buys Tinsa From Advent International

7 April 2016 – El Mundo

The European private equity house Cinven has signed an agreement to purchase the appraisal company Tinsa from Advent International, which acquired the firm in 2010 for €100 million. The consideration to be paid this time around has not been disclosed. The appraisal company was put up for sale at the beginning of 2016 and since then experts have speculated that the company could be sold for up to €350 million.

Tinsa, created in 1985 and headquartered in Madrid, is the largest property valuation and real estate advisory services company in Spain and Latin America, and performs mortgage appraisals on all kinds of properties, including tertiary and residential assets.

Currently the appraisal company operates in more than 25 countries around the world, with a strong presence in Latin America and dedicated offices in Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Chile, Perú, México and Colombia.

Cinven highlights Tinsa’s in-house technology, which is at the forefront of the market and allows it to offer accurate and efficient valuation solutions to its clients, as well as complementary services, such as energy audits and the monitoring of property developments.

Tinsa has 580 employees and a network of around 2,000 appraisal experts. The company performs more than 300,000 appraisals per year around the world and has more than 100,000 clients, including more than 90% of Spain’s banks.

Cinven also highlights that Tinsa is integrated into the process of its main clients, the banks, and that it plays a key role in the risk assessment process for granting new mortgages. In addition, Cinven indicates that the current onerous regulatory context requires properties to be appraised before any new mortgages can be granted, and imposes periodic valuations of banks’ real estate portfolios. (…).

Moreover, Cinven will inherit Tinsa’s strong management team, led by its Chairman, Ignacio Martos, formerly the CEO of Opodo, the portal that used to be owed by Amadeus, and by its Finance Director, Juan Guerra. (…).

Tinsa represents Cinven’s sixteenth investment through its Fondo 5. Advisors to this operation have included Rothschild y Socios Financieros (financial advisors), Clifford Chance (Cinven’s legal advisor), Uría Menéndez (Advent’s legal advisor), Oliver Wyman (Advent’s commercial advisor), McKinsey (Cinven’s commercial advisor), KPMG (accountant), Deloitte (tax) and Garrigues (employment law).

Original story: El Mundo

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bridgepoint & Cinven Enter The Bid For Tinsa

22 February 2016 – Expansión

Advent International is pushing ahead with its sale of Tinsa, the largest real estate appraisal company in Spain, which the US fund has controlled since 2010. Neither the turbulent start to the year on the markets, nor the political uncertainty enveloping the country, has managed to temper the interest in the operation, which looks set to become one of the major private equity transactions of 2016.

Amongst the candidates for the acquisition are two real heavyweights from the international private equity sector, namely Bridgepoint and Cinven, according to sources familiar with the process, who explain that the sale has attracted significant interest from potential investors, not only in the financial sector but also industry giants. Advent has declined to comment.

The final stretch

The fund, which is led in Spain by Carlos Santana, CEO, and which is being advised by the investment bank Rothschild, launched the sale of Tinsa in January, with a view to receiving initial offers this week.

Now, a select phase of bidding will begin for those candidates who have made the first cut – a group that includes Bridgepoint and Cinven – to allow them to deepen their understanding of the company and refine their bid proposals. If everything goes according to schedule, the bidders will communicate their binding offers by early April, according to sources.

Although the circumstances surrounding the sale of Tinsa are not the most favourable, sources in the sector say that the process is evolving in line with the market’s high expectations, which point to a hard-fought auction with high bids. The total valuation of the appraisal company amounts to around €300 million, according to sources.

This amount represents around ten times Tinsa’s forecast EBITDA for this year. The results for 2015 have not yet been published, but the company is certain that it managed to increase revenues by 12% with respect to 2014, to €86 million and to reach an EBITDA of €20 million, which it expects will rise to around €30 million in 2016. (…).

The US fund Advent acquired its 94.5% stake in the real estate appraisal company in November 2010 (the rest of the capital remained in the hands of the management team) for around €100 million. In this way, it took control of the stakes previously owned by 35 savings banks. At that time, the Spanish property sector was in real turmoil after the burst of the real estate bubble and financial entities were facing unprecedented consolidation and restructuring processes.

To avoid succumbing to that adversity, Tinsa committed itself to international expansion, under the tutelage of Advent. During the period since then, it has acquired Zala in Colombia and Prime Yield in Brazil. Today, Tinsa has offices in Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Peru and Colombia, as well as in Spain and Portugal, and it offers its services in around twenty countries. 20% of the appraisal company’s revenues in 2014 came from overseas, compared with 5% in 2010. At home, the company bought Tasamadrid from Bankia in 2012. (…).

Original story: Expansión (by D. Badía and M. Ponce de León)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Advent International Puts Tinsa Up For Sale

18 January 2016 – Expansión

Everything is now ready for the sale of Tinsa, Spain’s largest real estate appraiser, which has been controlled by Advent International since 2010. A few months ago, the private equity fund appointed the investment bank Rothschild as advisor to the process, and now that its preparations have been completed, market sources expect the sale to be officially launched this week, with the distribution of the sales prospectus. Advent has declined to comment.

During the months leading up to the launch, the phase during which interest from investors is typically gauged both financial investors (other private equity houses) and industrial companies have expressed their interest in analysing the purchase. The latter include some companies in the same sector, as well as others from beyond, which view the acquisition of a real estate appraiser as an additional or complementary business line, say sources.

The valuation of the company will range between €300 million and €350 million, according to market estimates, an amount that represents around 10x Tinsa’s forecast EBITDA for this year. The company’s results for 2015 have not yet been published, but the company expected to increase sales by 12%, to €86 million, and to generate an EBITDA of €20 million, which it forecasts will rise to around €30 million in 2016.

This outlook reflects the strong recovery that the Spanish real estate sector is enjoying, after a severe period of inactivity following the burst of the bubble and the resultant financial and economic crisis.

In fact, the resurrection of the property market may have been one of the reasons behind Advent’s decision to exit the appraiser. According to sources, if all goes according to plan, the operation will be completed within the first half of this year.

Timing

The situation was completely different when the fund led in Spain by Carlos Santana, CEO, acquired Tinsa. Then, the Spanish real estate sector was in dire straits. Advent acquired a 94.% stake in the appraisal company in November 2010, for around €100 million and whereby took over the shares previously held by 35 different savings banks.

With the sale of Tinsa, Advent’s portfolio of Spanish investment companies, will be reduced to just one asset: the civil explosive manufacturer, Maxam, in which it acquired an almost 50% stake in 2011. Nevertheless, the manager is not planning to withdraw from the country completely. In fact, it is continuing to comb the ground in search of new purchases and it has participated in some of the sales undertaken recently in the PE sector, such as the auction for Parques Reunidos, for which it submitted an initial bid, however that did not meet the demands of the owner, the fund Arle Capital Partners.

Original story: Expansión (by Mamen Ponce de León)

Translation: Carmel Drake