Providence makes buyout offer for Australia's iSelect

The pricing of the offer, to be structured as a scheme of arrangement, was not disclosed in the company's regulatory filing. Based on the most recent trading price, iSelect is worth around A$463 million ($337 million), although the stock has gained nearly 16% over the past few days.

ISelect went public in June 2013 at a valuation of approximately A$479.3 million after raising A$215.3 million in its IPO. Spectrum Equity made a partial exit through the offering and had a 5% stake in the business as of August 2015. The VC firm invested in 2010 alongside Starfish Ventures, which holds around 2.3%.

Founded in 2000, iSelect provides comparison and advisory services on more than 12,500 insurance, energy, personal finance and broadband products from over 85 partners. It distributes one in every five private health insurance policies in Australia. Operating revenue came to $157.2 million for the 2015 financial year, up 15% on the previous year, while net profit rose 17% to A$21.4 million.

However, the company has consistently traded below its IPO price and two CEOs have stepped down since the listing.

Providence, which focuses on media, communications, education and IT investments, currently has one Australia-based portfolio company: Study Group, a tertiary education provider acquired from CHAMP Private Equity in 2010 for $570 million.

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Australasia
• Financials
• Technology
• Financial Services
• Technology
• Australia
• Providence Equity Partners
• buyout