The consortium led by investment companies Blackstone and Permira, which includes the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, is “progressing” in its talks about a possible takeover of Adevinta, Bloomberg reports, citing “people with knowledge of the matter.”
Bloomberg went on to note that the deal could value the Oslo-based marketplaces operator at more than €12.0 billion ($12.8 billion U.S.) and was “set to be one of the year’s biggest buyouts.” At the time of writing, the company’s market capitalization was $11.7 billion — a year-to-date increase of 37.5%.
The takeover plan was unveiled on Sep. 21, but since early last month, political instability in the Middle East has roiled markets, putting the deal in doubt. Now, discussions are apparently moving forward, but Bloomberg cautioned that “the talks could still drag on longer or fall apart without an agreement.”
If a deal does eventually go ahead, it is likely to be financed with private credit due to the weak state of the leveraged loan market in Europe.
Earlier this week, EBay — the largest shareholder in Adevinta — made brief mention of the proposed deal in its quarterly earnings report, stating that “As we disclosed in late September, we have expressed support for the proposal made by the consortium of investors to Adevinta, under which we would retain a portion of our current holdings.”
“As these discussions are ongoing, we are not in a position to provide any further comments on this transaction or the implications of such a transaction to eBay today.”
Adevinta will report its financial results on Nov. 23.