Apax sells TSO to Deutsche Post
U.K. buyout shop Apax Partners Worldwide LLP said Wednesday, Nov. 15, it sold its 71% stake in U.K. publisher the Stationery Office to German postal services and logistics group Deutsche Post AG for an undisclosed price.
Deutsche Post is buying TSO through its majority-owned Williams Lea Group Ltd., a corporate information management consultancy, which will use TSO as a launch-pad for its move into public sector business process outsourcing, or BPO.
The private equity firm declined to comment on its return on investment in Britain’s document service.
“The acquisition of TSO gives us a pre-eminent position in public sector BPO,” said Williams Lea CEO Tom Griffiths, in a statement.
The Bonn-based parent company, anticipating the loss of its monopoly next year, hopes the purchase will further reduce its dependence on its domestic mail market.
The 300 or so management and staff shareholders of TSO will cash in their share options to give Williams Lea 100% of the company.
Norwich, England-based TSO is the largest publisher in the U.K. by volume, turning out more than 15,000 titles a year, mainly for government and corporate clients. It specializes in official and regulatory documents, large print-run editions and contract printing. In 1996 it was carved out of the official government printer, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, and privatized. It now generates revenues of GBP70 million (USD133 million) a year.
Williams Lea, which is based in London but operates worldwide, said the acquisition would give the firm a presence in the rapidly expanding market of U.K. public sector BPO, which is growing at 23.5% a year and is forecast to reach GBP1.3 billion by 2008.
Apax, which bought TSO in an GBP82 million secondary buyout from the forerunner of Electra Private Equity plc, declined to comment on its return on investment. When Apax bought the company in 1999, TSO was producing annual revenues of GBP75 million, somewhat more than today’s figure.
UBS and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP advised Apax. Williams Lea tapped Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.
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