Clearlake Capital Group last week announced an agreement to take business analytics company Dun & Bradstreet private in what would be a $7.7 billion deal if closed.
The Santa Monica-based private equity firm headed by billionaires Behdad Eghbali and José Feliciano expects the deal to close in the third quarter of this year. Clearlake will fund the purchase through a combination of equity and debt financing.
Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Dun & Bradstreet is a global provider of data and analytics used in business decision-making. It was founded in 1841 as a risk-management firm.
“Dun & Bradstreet has built a trusted, globally recognized brand and has amassed a preeminent set of data and analytics that empower organizations of all sizes,” Eghbali said in a statement. “As companies become more data-centric in their decisioning in this fast-paced world, we see vast potential for Dun & Bradstreet to deliver AI-powered solutions to their global client base.”
Deal still needs regulatory approval
The agreement, if approved, would pay out $9.15 per share to each of Dun & Bradstreet’s shareholders. The company’s board of directors has unanimously recommended shareholder approval of the deal, which also must go through regulatory scrutiny.
In the announcement, Bun & Bradstreet Chief Executive Anthony Jabbour noted that a six-year transformation plan at the company has grown its revenue by 40% and its EBITDA – earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization – by 60%, expanded its margins by nearly 600 basis points and decreased its leverage from nine to 3.6 times. He hailed this plan as a “strategic journey” and highlighted this take-private deal as part of the path.
“We are pleased to be partnering with Clearlake on this new leg of that journey,” Jabbour said in a statement. “With their support, our team looks forward to evolving and growing the company with new ways to put our trusted, proprietary and mission-critical data assets to work for our clients.”
Clearlake was represented in this transaction by a vast team of attorneys at Sidley Austin LLP, a team that was led by Mehdi Khodadad, Mark Castiglia, Daniel Belke, Avni Mehta, Tommy Tsao and Daniel Gessner at the firm’s Century City office.
