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