Long4Life shareholders have accepted the transaction for OMPE to purchase 100% of the company and delist it, according to Old Mutual Private Equity (OMPE), a branch of Old Mutual Alternative Investments. Long4Life is an investment holding company located in South Africa that specializes in lifestyle enterprises.
The transaction is worth $285 million and will be funded with a mix of debt and equity. Shortly after the Company announced in April 2021 that it was holding a strategic review to examine possibilities to unlock value for its shareholders, OMPE identified Long4Life as a potential delisting opportunity.
Because they were previously traded in the private market, some of the firms in the Long4Life stable are familiar with OMPE. OMPE had long regarded them as high-quality companies with steady and consistent development, solid cash flow, and competent management teams. Because of its knowledge of the assets, OMPE was able to move quickly from its initial assessment of the transaction to a binding offer to shareholders.
For OMPE Fund V, this is a big transaction. It offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase three businesses in one transaction. Long4Life will be delisted, and the three underlying divisions, Holdsport, Chill & Inhle Beverages, and Personal Care & Wellness will be unbundled and handled as individual businesses with their own management teams in OMPE Fund V.
The OMPE team will work with the management teams to develop a shared vision and strategy, as well as offer capital, perspective, stewardship, and environmental, social, and governance disciplines.
Chumani Kula, Co-head of Old Mutual Private Equity said, “Our modus operandi as OMPE is to deliver deals that are a win-win solution for all parties. We always knew to successfully execute on a transaction of this magnitude, not only would it be important to deliver a value unlock for shareholders, but also speed and certainty of execution, which we believe was what made the OMPE offer very compelling to Long4Life.
Our offer was also very compelling to underlying management, which enables the underlying teams to invest alongside us directly in their own businesses and therefore be more in control of their own destiny. Lastly, from an OMPE perspective, the deal represented an attractive opportunity to acquire high-quality assets which we like and have followed for a long time, whilst partnering with strong management teams with which we are aligned.”
The deal is subject to further conditions precedent (including the approval of the Competition Commission) and is expected to be concluded in June 2022.
