Nordic Capital, a buyout firm which focuses predominantly on the Nordic region, is set to acquire Norway-listed Vizrt, a video editing business, according to a statement. The firm plans to acquire the business for NOK 37 per share, valuing the company at approximately NOK 2.5 billion (€290 million, $374 million).
Vizrt’s board of directors have unanimously recommended its shareholders to vote in favour of the transaction at shareholder meeting scheduled for 18th December. Shareholders holding 51.5 percent of the company have already voted in favour of the deal. The deal is expected to complete in January.
Vizrt provides real-time 3D graphics, studio automation, sports analysis and asset management tools for the broadcast industry including animations, maps, weather, video editing and compositing tools.
Nordic will make the investment using capital from its Nordic Capital Fund VIII, which closed on its €3.5 billion revised hard-cap last December.
Vizrt will be the eighth investment from this vehicle. Other investments from the fund include: Gina Tricot, a clothing business, AniCura, a veterinary clinic operator, Euroline, a payment business that provides secure card solutions, and Unifeeder, a Danish logistics company, which Nordic bought last year from London-headquartered Montagu Private Equity for approximately €400 million.
The deal environment in the Nordics has gathered pace in recent months, Nordic’s managing partner Joakim Karlsson told PEI recently. “Nordic Capital has signed six new platform deals this year, compared to three deals last year; so for us, it is a huge pick-up in activity.”
His words were echoed by Gabriel Urwitz, founder and managing partner at Segulah. “Segulah has had the strongest deal flow ever over the last 12 months – approximately 50 percent higher than what we would typically have. We have done four deals in the last eight months and five in the last 20 months, which was a lot for us.”
To read more about the investment climate in Scandinavia, click here to read our annual Nordic roundtable, which is published in our November issue.
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