Dr. B. R. Shetty to acquire Travelex supported by associates of Centurion

 

London, 25 May 2014: Dr. B. R. Shetty (“Dr Shetty”), a well-known entrepreneur and philanthropist, together with equity partners associated with Centurion Investments (“Centurion”), one of the leading investment firms in the UAE, are pleased to announce that they have entered into an agreement to acquire Travelex Holdings Limited (“Travelex” or the “Company”), the world’s leading foreign exchange specialist, from funds advised by Apax Partners, Lloyd Dorfman (Founder and Chairman of Travelex) and other shareholders. Following completion of the transaction Lloyd Dorfman will be Founder and President of Travelex and remain a shareholder.  Peter Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of Travelex, together with the existing management team, will continue to lead the Company.

 

 

Dr Shetty’s principal investment portfolio includes significant holdings in nmc Health plc, UAE Exchange and Neopharma,   as well as investments in hospitality, food and beverage businesses. He is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of nmc Health plc, the UAE’s largest private sector healthcare provider, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is part of the FTSE-250 index. UAE Exchange is a leading global money transfer and foreign exchange provider headquartered in the UAE.  UAE Exchange was founded in 1980 and has a fast-growing international presence which today spans 32 countries with over 700 offices. Neopharma is the first company of its kind to engage in pharmaceutical manufacturing in Abu Dhabi, with state-of-the-art facilities.

 

Centurion is an investment vehicle based in Abu Dhabi, owned and controlled by His Excellency Saeed Bin Butti Al Qubaisi, with a range of business interests.

 

Travelex is the world’s leading independent retail foreign exchange business. Over the past 38 years, it has built the world’s largest retail network of specialist foreign exchange stores and has developed Travelex as a trusted and widely recognised brand in foreign exchange.

 

It has operations across the breadth of the foreign exchange value chain and a strong culture of compliance and risk management, underpinning its relationships with regulators and wholesale and retail partners. It has a globally diversified geographic footprint, which includes almost 1,500 stores and over 1,300 ATMs in 27 countries.

 

Following the acquisition, Travelex will continue with its stated growth strategy of: increasing depth through expansion of distribution channels and product range; increasing breadth through new country entry; developing the payments business; and building on its scale advantages.  Travelex will remain independent and be managed separately from UAE Exchange for the foreseeable future.

 

Commenting on the acquisition, Dr Shetty, said: “I am delighted to be acquiring Travelex, a trusted and recognised global brand inspired by Lloyd Dorfman’s vision.    With an attractive growth strategy and an experienced management team Travelex has demonstrated its ability to execute on strategy, to innovate and to deliver strong financial results. I am looking forward to working with Lloyd, Peter and the Travelex team.  This is a landmark transaction for Abu Dhabi.”

 

Peter Jackson, Chief Executive of Travelex said: “The sale of Travelex to Dr Shetty is an exciting new chapter for our business and represents a great opportunity for us to continue our expansion. Dr Shetty has developed a great business in UAE Exchange, with an impressive and successful payments and remittances offering which is highly complementary to Travelex. While we will continue to operate Travelex independently, the opportunity for both businesses to work closely together is compelling.”

 

“Over the last four years, we have developed Travelex significantly, entering a number of new and faster growing territories, expanding our offering in our existing countries, rolling out our digital platform and launching innovative products for customers.”

 

Lloyd Dorfman, Founder and Chairman of Travelex, said: “This is a significant milestone for Travelex and for me personally. Since I founded Travelex 38 years ago we have grown from a single shop into an international brand recognised and respected around the globe. I am immensely proud of what we have achieved and am excited about the future. I look forward to supporting Dr Shetty, Peter and the rest of the management team.”

 

The proposed acquisition will be effected through BRS Ventures & Holdings Limited, a company owned by Dr Shetty and equity partners associated with Centurion.  The acquisition is subject to customary regulatory and other approvals and consents.  The acquisition will not result in additional debt being incurred by Travelex in connection with the financing of the acquisition and, other than in respect of the reorganisation of existing shareholder interests as a consequence of the transaction, it is intended to maintain the existing capital structure of Travelex.

 

The commercial terms of the proposed transaction are confidential.

 

Advisers

Standard Chartered Bank and Evercore (Financial Advisers to Dr Shetty), MENA Financial Partners (Advisers to Dr Shetty on financing matters), Linklaters (Legal Advisers to Dr Shetty).

 

Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Cazenove and Smith Square Partners (Financial Advisers to Travelex), Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays (Financial Advisers to Apax Partners), Freshfields (Legal Advisers to the Company and to Apax Partners), Berwin Leighton Paisner (Legal Advisers to the Company), Macfarlanes (Legal Advisers to the Travelex management), Steinfeld Law (Legal Advisers to Lloyd Dorfman), Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP (Legal Advisers to Apax Partners).

 

About Dr Shetty

Dr. Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty was born in 1942 in the state of Karnataka, India. He moved to UAE in 1972 where, once he had attained his degree in pharmacy, he began his entrepreneurial career.

 

Dr Shetty’s portfolio of businesses includes interests in healthcare, financial services, pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution of pharmaceuticals, FMCG, scientific and medical equipment and foodstuffs. Within this portfolio, the three flagship ventures are:

 

nmc Health plc – established in 1975, nmc Health was the first company in the UAE to provide private healthcare services. nmc Health has grown into a group of two principal divisions: nmc Healthcare which is the largest healthcare provider in the private sector with a UAE presence and nmc Trading which is one of the leading distribution businesses in the UAE. nmc Health plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE-250 index. www.nmc.ae

 

UAE Exchange – established in 1980, UAE Exchange is a money transfer and foreign exchange global operator with operations in 32 countries and over 700 direct offices. The business has a customer base of 6 million and over 400,000 customers walk into a UAE Exchange store on a daily basis. www.uaeexchange.com

 

Neopharma LLC – established in 2003, Neopharma is a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility which manufactures both generic and specialised drugs. The facility is based in Abu Dhabi. www.neopharmauae.com

 

 

Centurion has an established and proven association with Dr Shetty, having been a strong supporter and investor in a number of Dr Shetty’s businesses.

 

About Travelex

Travelex is the world’s leading independent retail foreign exchange business. Over the past 38 years, it has built the world’s largest retail network of specialist foreign exchange stores and has developed Travelex as a trusted and widely recognised brand in foreign exchange. The Group’s mission is to help its customers spend and send money around the world.

 

Travelex operates across the entire value chain of the retail foreign exchange industry and its retail operations span 27 countries. As at 31 March 2014, it operated stores in 9 of the world’s top 20 international airports by international passenger numbers as well as in major transport hubs, premium shopping malls, high street locations, supermarkets and city centres.

 

The Group has developed a growing network of over 1,300 ATMs at both on-airport and off-airport locations around the world, and has built a growing online and mobile foreign exchange platform. It also processes and delivers foreign currency orders for major banks, as well as for travel agencies, hotels and casinos.  In addition, the Group sources and distributes large quantities of foreign currency banknotes for customers including central banks and international financial institutions. The Group is also active in the remittances and payments space and in the travel insurance brokerage business in the United States.

 

The Core Revenue and Core EBITDA of Travelex for the twelve months ended 31 December 2013 were £695.0 million and £80.1 million, respectively.

 

About Apax Partners

Apax Partners is one of the world’s leading private equity investment groups.  It operates globally and has more than 30 years of investing experience.  Apax Partners has advised funds that total over $40 billion around the world in aggregate. Funds advised by Apax invest in companies across four global sectors of Consumer, Healthcare, Services and Tech & Telco. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies.  For further information about Apax, please visit www.apax.com.