M&A Deal Summary

Permira and Spectrum Equity Acquire Ancestry

On October 22, 2012, private equity firms Permira and Spectrum Equity acquired information services company Ancestry for 1.6B USD

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is Permira’s 1st and Spectrum Equity’s 3rd transaction in the Information Services sector.
  • This is Permira’s 25th and Spectrum Equity’s largest (disclosed) transaction.
  • This is Permira’s 9th and Spectrum Equity’s 37th transaction in the United States.
  • This is Permira’s 1st and Spectrum Equity’s 3rd transaction in Utah.
Investment Fate
  • Ancestry was sold to a consortium of financial buyers in 2016 for 2.6B USD.
  • Ancestry was sold to a consortium of financial buyers in 2020 for 4.7B USD.

M&A Deal Summary
Date 2012-10-22
Target Ancestry
Sector Information Services
Buyer(s) Permira
Spectrum Equity
Deal Type Going Private
Deal Value 1.6B USD
Advisor(s) Qatalyst Partners LP (Financial)
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (Legal)

Target

Ancestry

Provo, Utah, United States
website
Ancestry.com's offices in Dublin, Ireland.
Ancestry.com's offices in Dublin, Ireland.
Ancestry.com is a provider of family history and consumer genomics information, and helps people gain a new level of understanding about their lives. The Company's suite of history products include Archives, Fold3, Newspapers.com, AncestryDNA, and AncestryHealth. Ancestry.com was formed in 1990 and is based in Provo, Utah.

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Buyer(S) 2

Buyer

Permira

London, United Kingdom

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

website

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1985
PE ASSETS 75.0B EUR
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Permira is a mega-sized private equity firm that targets large company investments around the world. Permira invests to support acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, take-privates, turnarounds, and growth buyouts. Areas of interest include healthcare, financial services, chemicals, consumer products and services, industrial products and services, technology, media, and telecom. Permira will consider opportunities in Europe, Asia, and North America. Permira was formed in 1985 and has offices in Menlo Park, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, London, Hong Kong, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Stockholm, Tokyo, Guernsey and New York City.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 80 of 156
Sector (Information Services) 1 of 2
Type (Going Private) 6 of 14
State (Utah) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 9 of 42
Year (2012) 6 of 6
Size (of disclosed) 25 of 60
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2012-09-25 WeddingWire

Bethesda, Maryland, United States

WeddingWire is a global online marketplace, connecting consumers with local wedding professionals and a suite of comprehensive tools that make wedding planning easier. Operating within a $200 billion industry, WeddingWire helps 13 million couples every month find the right team of wedding professionals to personalize and pull off their special day. Consumers around the world are able to read more Permira VI G.P. Limited than 4 million vendor reviews and search, compare and book from a directory of over 400,000 vendors. Founded in 2007, the WeddingWire portfolio serves couples and wedding professionals across 15 countries in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. The company has more than 950 employees and is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C., with international headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2012-11-08 Galaxy Entertainment Group

Central, China

Galaxy Entertainment Group is a casino and hotel operator in Macau SAR, China.

Sell $875M
Buyer

Spectrum Equity

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

website

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1994
PE ASSETS 4.7B USD
Size Large
Type Sector Focused
DESCRIPTION

Spectrum Equity Management L.P. is a private equity investor focused on service businesses. Spectrum specifically targets established businesses in the media, communications, IT, information, and business services industries. The Firm looks to commit $25 to $100 million of equity capital per transaction and focuses on opportunities throughout North America and Western Europe. Prospective transaction situations include leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, acquisition financings, and secondary purchases. Spectrum Equity Investors was formed in 1994 and has offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Menlo Park, California.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 43 of 94
Sector (Information Services) 3 of 8
Type (Going Private) 4 of 5
State (Utah) 3 of 4
Country (United States) 37 of 81
Year (2012) 4 of 4
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 9
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2012-09-25 WeddingWire

Bethesda, Maryland, United States

WeddingWire is a global online marketplace, connecting consumers with local wedding professionals and a suite of comprehensive tools that make wedding planning easier. Operating within a $200 billion industry, WeddingWire helps 13 million couples every month find the right team of wedding professionals to personalize and pull off their special day. Consumers around the world are able to read more Permira VI G.P. Limited than 4 million vendor reviews and search, compare and book from a directory of over 400,000 vendors. Founded in 2007, the WeddingWire portfolio serves couples and wedding professionals across 15 countries in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. The company has more than 950 employees and is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C., with international headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2013-01-07 Pictometry International

Rochester, New York, United States

Pictometry is a provider of geo-referenced aerial, oblique image libraries and related software. The company uses a proprietary image capture and processing technology to produce Pictometry Intelligent Images®, a database of aerial imagery of unsurpassed resolution and quality.

Sell -
Mergr

Product

Company

Legal