Next agrees take-private for Australian accommodation manager

The mid-market private equity firm will buy all outstanding shares for AUD 0.24 apiece through a scheme of implementation, according to a filing. This represents a 50% premium to the June 9 closing price. However, when Next first submitted an offer for Alloggio in late March, it was willing to pay AUD 0.30 per share. The downward adjustment reflects a downward adjustment in the company’s projected earnings.

Under the revised proposal – which still requires shareholder approval – founders Will Creedon and Karen Howard will rollover their approximately 28.9% voting stake by subscribing to shares in the acquisition vehicle. In addition, three major shareholders, HD Capital, Microequities, and Allegro Capital, which together agreed to sell their positions into the scheme.

Alloggio’s stock was suspended from trading on June 9 pending an announcement. It jumped 44% on resumption of trading on June 13 to close at AUD 0.23, giving the company a market capitalisation of approximately AUD 27.2m.

Alloggio claims to be Australia’s leading short-term rental accommodation operator, offering holiday homes, mixed accommodation options ranging from hotels to holiday parks, and a supporting technology platform that facilitates sales and marketing at scale.

Revenue for the 12 months ended June 2022 reached AUD 27.9m, up from AUD 11.3m a year earlier. Over the same period, EBITDA increased from AUD 5.2m to AUD 11.2m and net profit rose from AUD 100,000 to AUD 2m.

Last month, Alloggio announced that EBITDA for the three months ended June would fall in the AUD 4.8m-AUD 5.1m range, having previously projected AUD 6.4m-AUD 8.2m. It blamed a lower-than-expected post-Easter pickup in bookings and integration challenges involving a recently acquired laundry business.

Next Capital has over AUD 600m in funds under management and typically targets buyouts of small to mid-size companies with valuations of AUD 50m to AUD 200m.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Real estate
• Buyouts
• Australia
• Next Capital