Case Study

Marlink

Distribution

The company

Region: Europe
Sector: Communication services
Stage: Small/mid buyout
Type: Co-investment, Primary
Fund Vintage: 2015
Highlights:

                                £11.2m
Proceeds

                                2.5x
MOIC

                                8
Add on acquisitions

Private Equity Manager (GP)

Case study

About the company

Marlink Group (“Marlink”) is a global leader in intelligent networks and digital solutions for business-critical remote operations.

Investment rationale

Broadband usage in the maritime industry is expected to keep growing due to the increase in satellite capacity, demand for data and bandwidth by maritime operators and innovation of communication equipment.
Marlink has long, established relationships with a wide portfolio of satellite operators, and is an attractive platform for integrating participants in all parts of the satellite communication distribution value chain.
Technology, media and telecom is one of the sectors that Apax France specialises in, and it had prior knowledge of the company and a strong relationship with management.
Opportunity for margin expansion through migration towards broadband VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) solutions, economies of scale in satellite purchasing and network management, operations automation and accretive value added digital services.

Our relationship

PIP is a primary investor in two Apax France funds and Pantheon holds an advisory board seat for three of its funds. In addition, PIP has previously co-invested alongside the manager.

Active management and value creation

Seven acquisitions completed until partial sale in June 2022. One additional acquisition conducted in September 2022.
Marlink has become a world leader in maritime and enterprise satellite communication services and has over 12,000 vessels under contract of which over 7,000 (under 2,000 at entry) are vessels that have broadband installed.
Repositioning and scale of the Land division (from negative EBITDA at entry to c.US$30m in 2022).
Expansion of the digital offering across Marlink’s subscriber base through value added and managed services (eg, cyber, Internet of Things).

Exit

Marlink was acquired by Providence Equity Partners in June 2022, providing a partial exit for Apax France funds and PIP at a 2.5x Multiple of Invested Cost (MOIC).

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