Aim-listed Haversham Holdings (HAV) has this week completed its £1.2bn reverse takeover of British Car Auctions, the owner of webuyanycar.com. In conjunction with the acquisition, Haversham, which was formed by specialist investment house Marwyn and former Autologic chief executive Avril Palmer-Baunack last year, will change its name to BCA Marketplace and re-list on the main market.
The shell company, whose shares were suspended last month following reports of the BCA deal, secured the backing of major institutional investors including Woodford Asset Management, Capital Global and Aviva Investors as shareholders in the new venture. Marwyn’s holding will drop to just 2 per cent, though its founders James Corsellis and Mark Watts will sit on BCA’s board as non-executive directors.
The acquisition will be funded by a £1bn share issue, £294m of which will be used to tackle the enormous debt pile BCA accrued under its private equity ownership. A further £200m term loan facility has been agreed with HSBC to fund working capital requirements and repay the balance of debt. On completion, net debt is expected to be £127m. Following the sale, BCA shares retained by Clayton Dubilier & Rice, which acquired BCA in 2010, must be held for at least 3-month lock-up, a period which extends to a full year for other shareholders.
BCA principally operates two divisions: vehicle remarketing and vehicle buying, which in the six months ended 30 June together generated revenues of £458m and cash profits of £43.4m. When listed, the new management plans to grow auction volumes and introduce a buyer finance service.
