LinkedIn article written by Stephen Bowring, Executive Director at Miles.
Mainstream Group Holdings Limited (then ASX:MAI) completed its sale to Apex Group Limited, a global financial services provider, sponsored by Genstar Capital.
Miles Advisory Partners advised Mainstream on the sale and it was a spectacular experience.
On 9 March 2021, Mainstream announced that it had agreed to be acquired by Vistra Group Holdings (BVI) Limited, by way of scheme of arrangement. It is typical that these type of agreements include lock-up devices that attempt to protect the buyer from offers from other parties. But in this instance, Vistra agreed to let Mainstream shop their deal around town.
The result:
Between 12 April and 10 June Mainstream announced 14 superior offers:
The 10 June Apex offer represented a significant premium for Mainstream's shares:
- 128.6% to Mainstream’s closing price of $1.23 per share on 9 April 2021, the day of the Vistra announcement;
- 153.4% to Mainstream’s closing price of $1.11 per share on 8 March 2021, being the last trading price prior to the Vistra announcement;
- 161.8% to the 30-day volume weighted average price (VWAP) of $1.071 per share;
- 178.0% to the 90-day VWAP of $1.012 per share; and
- 197.1% to the 180-day VWAP of $0.943 per share (based on calendar days)
The transaction represented a 20.2x multiple of Mainstream's FY21 Operating EBITDA and a 33.5x multiple of Mainstream's FY21 Underlying EBITDA.
Wow! What an achievement. It is sad that it is over, as it was a lot of fun!
Byram Johnston and Martin Smith started Mainstream 16 years ago and they can be enormously proud of the value that they have created for Mainstream shareholders since being listed on the ASX 6 years ago.
We are really grateful that they had the confidence in our firm to assist them with this transaction, it was a great experience, a once in a lifetime transaction. Thanks Byram and Martin.
Thanks also to the broader Mainstream team, JoAnna, John, Debbie, Alicia, Stacey, Rachel and Silva for all your efforts and patience.
We also worked with some outstanding people from Maddocks, thanks Andy, Ron, Lydia, Alexandra, Erin, Laura, Jacqueline, Olivia.
Lastly, thanks to our team, Tim, Alan, Herbert (and even James who left before the real fun began).
It was a hell of a ride!