Apax Partners LLP is a British
private equity firm, headquartered in
London, England.[3] The company also operates out of six other offices in
New York,
Hong Kong,
Mumbai,
Tel Aviv,
Munich and
Shanghai.[4] As of December 2023, the firm had raised and advised funds of approximately $65
billion (USD).[5] Apax Partners is one of the oldest and largest private equity firms operating on an international basis.[6]
Apax invests across four sectors:
technology, internet/consumer,
healthcare and services.[5] It looks for investments in a target Enterprise Value of $100mm – $5,000mm.
In 1972,[7][8]Ronald Mourad Cohen and Maurice Tchénio founded the advisory firm Multinational Management Group (MMG) in London, Paris, and Chicago, marking the beginning of Apax Partners.[9][10] In 1977, they formed a partnership with early venture capitalist
Alan Patricof, who founded Patricof & Co in New York in 1969.[11][12] The new firm would be known as Alan Patricof Associates (APA) and ultimately come to be known as Apax Partners (apax means "unique" in classical Greek).[13]
Throughout the 1980s, the firm grew steadily raising capital under a series of separate funds.[14][15]
In 1991, Apax Partners became the official name for all of its European operations[16] however the U.S. business still operated under the Patricof & Co. name. By the mid-1990s Apax had become one of the larger private equity firms globally.[11]
In 2001, Patricof & Co. adopted the Apax Partners branding and formalized its affiliation with its European business.[17][18] In 2002, Apax Partners LLP was established.[19]
In 2005, Apax announced it would acquire middle market
leveraged buyout firm
Saunders Karp & Megrue to augment its buyout business in the United States.[20][21] In March 2006, Alan Patricof left Apax.[22]
In 2006, Apax Partners in London and Apax Partners France in Paris became independent.[23] Apax Partners France rebranded to Seven2 in 2023.[24]
Investments
Pre-2010
British Telecom restructured, and agreed to sell the
Yell GroupYellow pages directory business to Apax and
Lion Capital LLP for £2.14 billion/$3.5 billion,[25] making it then the largest non-corporate LBO in European history. Yell bought US directories publisher McLeodUSA for about $600 million the following year,[26] and floated on London's
FTSE in 2003.[27]
Apax purchased a majority stake in
Travelex (the world's largest foreign exchange company) for £1.06bn. In Q3 2005 Apax also announced plans to purchase
Grupo Panrico, one of
Spain's largest food companies and its largest bakery company.
A partnership consisting of Apax,
Saban Capital Group and Arkin Communications acquired the controlling interest (30%) in Israeli telecommunications company
Bezeq in October 2005 for $923 million.[28] The partnership sold its stake to Internet Gold – Golden Lines Ltd. subsidiary
B Communications in April 2010 for $1.75 billion.[29]
Apax floated the satellite communications company Inmarsat on the London Stock Exchange in 2015.[30]
Apax purchased the
Tommy Hilfiger Corporation for $1.6 billion, or $16.80 a share, all in cash. In May 2006, this deal was approved by the shareholders of Tommy Hilfiger.[31][32]
On 21 August 2006 it was announced that Apax Partners and
Bain Capital had joined the enlarged private equity consortium headed by
KKR that has agreed to acquire an 80.1% stake in the Semiconductor Division of
Royal Philips Electronics. The new company is called
NXP Semiconductors.
On 31 October 2006 it was announced that Apax Partners had acquired FTMSC (
France Télécom Mobile Satellite Communications) which would later be rebranded under the
Vizada name in June 2007. This was shortly followed by an announcement on 6 September 2007 explaining that Apax Partners had acquired
Telenor Satellite Services which was to be merged into the Vizada brand.
On 20 November 2006 Apax Partners Worldwide LLP won a tender to buy control of
Tnuva. The bid values the privately held food and dairy group at $1.025 billion.
In May 2007, Apax signed definitive agreements with funds advised by Apax Partners and
OMERS Capital Partners under which such funds acquired the higher education, careers and library reference assets of
Thomson Learning, and a consortium of funds advised by
OMERS, and Apax acquired
Nelson Canada, for a combined total value of approximately $7.75 billion[clarification needed] in cash. The higher education, careers and library reference assets include such well-known brands and businesses as: Wadsworth, South-Western, Delmar Learning, Eddie Diamond, Gale, Heinle, Brooks/Cole, Course Technology and Nelson Canada. Nelson Canada is a leading provider of books and online resources for the educational market in Canada. The group will be majority-owned by OMERS. The name was changed to
Cengage Learning, on 24 July 2007.
In April 2010, Apax Partners announced acquisition of TIVIT.[39][40]
In May 2010, Apax Partners acquired a 70% stake in
Sophos for $580 million.[41]
On 25 March 2011 Apax Partners announced that it had reached a definitive agreement to purchase
Trader Corporation (“Trader”) from
Yellow Media for a purchase price consideration of $745M.[42]
On 23 December 2011 Apax Partners announced acquisition of the Swiss branch of
Orange.[43]
On 11 June 2012 an Apax-led consortium announced acquisition of Paradigm Ltd.[44]
In September 2012, Apax Partners forms consortium with CEO Stephen Cretier for GardaWorld Security Services.[45]
In November 2012, Apax Partners agrees to acquire
Cole Haan and completes acquisition 4 February 2013.[46]
On 21 January 2014 Apax bought out the remaining 50.1% share of Trader Media from the Guardian Media Group.[47]
On 9 October 2014 Apax announced that they will acquire
Dutch software maker
Exact.[48] It closed the transaction in April 2015.[49]
On 8 December 2014 Apax announced that it had entered into a transaction agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of
EVRY.[50]
2015–2019
2015 Apax bought 100% of Spanish real state web portal
idealista.com
In May 2015, Apax Partners agreed to purchase
Quality Distribution, a Tampa, Florida-based chemical transport and logistics firm, for $800 million, including assumption of debt. The deal was completed in August 2015.[51]
In December 2015, Apax Partners agreed to sell Rhiag-Inter Auto Parts Italia SpA to
LKQ Corporation for $1.14 billion.[52]
On 23 August 2017 funds advised by Apax Partners announced a definitive agreement to acquire
ThoughtWorks, a global software development and digital transformation consulting company.[54]
In September 2017,
Tom Chapman and Ruth Chapman sold a majority stake in
Matchesfashion.com to private-equity funds managed by Apax Partners.[55]
In May 2019, Apax Partners purchased New Zealand
e-commerce company
Trade Me for US$1.7 billion.[58]
In July 2019, funds advised by Apax Partners acquired
Baltic Classifieds Group, a business owning a portfolio of portals in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.[59]
2020–present
In April 2020, Apax Partners finalized the purchase of Coalfire, a cybersecurity firm.[60]
In June 2020, Apax invested $100m in Payfone, a software and data analytics firm, today known as Prove Identity[61] and based in New York.[62]
In Dec 2020, Azentio Software Private Limited, subsidiary of Apax Partners, buys global software products business of 3i Infotech for Rs. 1000 Cr [63]
In January 2021, Apax acquired PIB Group, a specialist insurance company, together with PIB's management team.[64]
In March 2021, Apax also agreed to acquire Lutech, an IT service company in Italy, from
One Equity Partners.[69]
In May 2021, Apax acquired Texas based, pet food company Nulo.[70]
In August 2021, Apax acquired
EveryAction from
Insight Partners and
Social Solutions from
Vista Equity Partners, combining them with CyberGrants, a company it agreed to acquire in June from Waud Capital Partners. Vista kept a minority stake in the combined company, which will have annual revenue of over $200 million.[71]
In September 2021, Apax joined with
Warburg Pincus to acquire T-Mobile Netherlands Holding B.V., today known as
Odido, in a transaction valuing the company at an
enterprise value of EUR5.1 billion.[72][73]
In September 2021, Apax also acquired SavATree, a horticultural service provider, based in New York.[74]
In October 2021, Apax agreed to acquire the homeowner services group of
American Water Works for $1.27 billion.[75]
In November 2021, UK satellite firm
Inmarsat, partially owned by Apax, agreed to be acquired by
Viasat for $7.3 billion.[76][77]
In December 2021, Apax sold Unilabs, a European medical diagnostics company acquired from
Nordic Capital and Apax Partners France, today known as Seven2,[24] in 2016,[78] to A.P. Moller Holding, the owner of
Maersk.[79]
In May 2023, Apax agreed to acquire
Blackstone Inc.'s minority stake in IBS Software, a software-as-a-service provider for travel and logistics companies, investing an estimated $450m, with IBS Software founder and executive chairman,
Valayil Korath Mathews, retaining the majority stake.[86]
In July 2023, Apax agreed with Fremman Capital and other minor stakeholders, to acquire a co-controlling stake in Spain's Palex Medical.[87]
In October 2023, Apax agreed to invest in GAN Integrity, a provider of cloud-based compliance management software, based in Copenhagen, Denmark.[89]
In November 2023, Apax, together with existing investors Frontier Growth, PeakSpan Capital, and Petvisor's management team, invested more than $100m in Petvisor, a
veterinary and pet services software provider.[90]
Criticism
British United Shoe Machinery (2000)
The circumstances surrounding the demerger, transfer of assets and subsequent collapse of the
British United Shoe Machinery in 2000 led to questions about Apax's behaviour being raised in Parliament by MPs of both main parties. After calls for an enquiry into the loss of hundreds of pensions were refused,
Ros Altmann, the pensions expert and, as of 2015, UK Pensions minister described it "one of the worst cases ..I have seen ..the actions of the former owners - Apax have been immoral." The Member of Parliament
Ashok Kumar said, "I think these people needed flogging ..these are greedy, selfish, capitalists who live on the backs of others."[91][92]
Hellas Telecommunications (2015)
Following its sale of Wind Hellas in 2007, Apax and Hellas co-owner TPG were sued by former bondholders of the telecom company, who allege that Apax and TPG unjustifiably enriched themselves from Hellas and misrepresented the true state of its accounts. Apax has countered that some of these bondholders only began their dispute after passing up on the chance of selling prior to the bankruptcy of 2009, and that Apax sold the business in 2007 (almost three years before the bankruptcy) and so was not the legal owner of Hellas during the periods cited in some of the lawsuits. (In 2005 a New York judge awarded $56m to some of these bondholders, made against Hellas Telecommunications Finance and Hellas Finance, rather than Apax or TPG). Other lawsuits related to Apax and TPG's ownership of Hellas are being heard in the USA. In December 2015 a separate legal action brought by the liquidators of Hellas Telecommunications was dismissed by a Luxembourg court.[93][94][95][96][97] In February 2018 the liquidators abandoned their UK case against Apax and TPG after four days of trial.[98]