1 May 2019
Oakley Capital Investments Limited
Acquisition of stake in Rastreator and Acierto
Oakley Capital Investments Limited1 (AIM: OCI, the "Company") is pleased to announce that Oakley Capital Private Equity III2 ("Fund III") has agreed to form a joint venture with Admiral Group plc ("Admiral") and Mapfre S.A. ("Mapfre") to combine Rastreator Comparador Correduría de Seguros S.L. ("Rastreator"), Asesor Seguros Online S.L. and Asesor Consumer Services S.L. (together "Acierto.com"), two of Spain's most well-regarded digital brokers for insurance and other financial products.
Rastreator, a digital insurance broker, was founded in 2009 and allows users to buy insurance, financial products, travel, offers, telephone services, energy, finance and cars by comparing quotations. The business is currently 75% owned by Admiral, a British insurance company specialising in the direct sale of car insurance, and 25% by Mapfre, a Spanish multinational company dedicated to the insurance and reinsurance sectors. In 2018, Rastreator generated revenues of €29 million.
Founded in 2007, Acierto.com is a digital insurance broker which enables consumers to compare prices from over 30 car, motorcycle, health, life and home insurance companies. Currently, Acierto.com is majority-owned by its two founders, Carlos and Mario Brüggemann, who will retain a stake in the combined group following the transaction. In 2018, Acierto generated revenues of €13 million.
This transaction continues Oakley's successful track record of investing in digital platforms across Europe. Having previously invested in Verivox, Germany's leading energy price comparison website, and Facile, the price-comparison market leader in Italy, Oakley has considerable expertise in the price comparison market. The Spanish market is at an early stage in its development, and therefore presents a similar growth opportunity to that experienced by Verivox and Facile as the market develops.
The Company's indirect contribution through its interest in Fund III is expected to be approximately £17 million.
Completion of the transaction is subject to merger control clearance by the EU Commission as well as the approval of the Directorate-General for Insurance and Pension Funds in Spain.
Macquarie Capital acted as Oakley's financial advisor in connection with this transaction.
Elena Betés, European and Emerging Price Comparison CEO at Admiral Group, commented:
"It's an exciting time. Uniting Rastreator and Acierto to become the country's leading marketplace will enable us to draw upon their respective strengths and empower our customers to make better choices through an even better service. We will leverage Oakley's investment expertise in the comparison arena to grow the Rastreator/Acierto operation in Spain and we look forward to working with their team."
Mario Brüggemann, Founder and Managing Director of Acierto.com, commented:
"After 12 years of hard work we are happy to enter a new phase and participate in this extraordinary opportunity to further improve the consumer experience in the Spanish insurance distribution sector. We look forward to contributing our broker expertise to continue strengthening the collaboration with our insurance partners."
Peter Dubens, Managing Partner of Oakley Capital, commented:
"Rastreator and Acierto have developed strong positions in the still maturing Spanish comparison market and are well-placed to achieve further growth as the industry continues to develop. We look forward to partnering with Admiral, together with the management team led by Elena Betés and Fernando Summers, and drawing on Oakley's decade of successful investment experience in price comparison to support the two businesses in their future growth."
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For further information please contact:
Oakley Capital Investments Limited
+44 20 7766 6900
Steven Tredget, Investor Relations
Greenbrook Communications Ltd
+44 20 7952 2000
Alex Jones / Matthew Goodman / Gina Bell
Liberum Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser & Broker)
+44 20 3100 2000
Gillian Martin / Owen Matthews
Notes:
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.
1 About Oakley Capital Investments ("OCI")
OCI is an AIM-listed investment vehicle, which provides access to the Oakley funds. It is a liquid vehicle that provides capital growth and dividends to investors.
LEI Number: 213800KW6MZUK12CQ815
2 The Oakley Funds
Oakley Capital Private Equity L.P. and its successor funds, Oakley Capital Private Equity II, Oakley Capital Private Equity III and Oakley Capital IV, are unlisted, focused mid-market private equity funds with the aim of providing investors with significant long-term capital appreciation. The investment strategy of the funds is to focus on buy-out opportunities in industries with the potential for growth, consolidation and performance improvement.
The Investment Adviser
Founded in 2002, Oakley Capital has demonstrated the repeated ability to acquire attractive growth assets at attractive prices. To do this they rely on their sector and regional expertise, their ability to tackle transaction complexity and their deal generating entrepreneur network.
