LINK Mobility Group Holding ASA to acquire AMM S.p.A in Italy
LINK Mobility Group Holding ASA (LINK) has today entered into an agreement to acquire approximately 81% of AMM S.p.A, a mobile communications company in Italy, and to launch a mandatory offer for the remaining shares. LINK will with the acquisition become a leading CPaaS provider in the Italian market and continues to deliver on its stated M&A strategy.
Since the IPO in October last year, LINK has successfully signed four transactions. WebSMS in Austria, Tismi in the Netherlands, MarketingPlatform in Denmark and now AMM in Italy. Combined annual revenue contribution from the four transactions is in excess of EUR 40 million.
AMM was founded in 2008 and listed on the AIM list of the Italian Stock Exchange in 2019 (ticker AAMM.MI, free float 19%). The company is approximately 81% owned by the founders and owners of acquired targets and headquartered in Arezzo. AMM operates within mobile-marketing and web-advertising and the product offering includes SMS A2P, email services and chatbots. The company serves close to 3,500 enterprise and SME customers throughout Italy by direct sales and a self-sign-up (SSU) platform.
"We are pleased to expand our market position in Italy through the acquisition of AMM. Combining our strong teams and product offerings will make us a leading CPaaS player in the Italian market", says Guillaume Van Gaver, CEO of LINK.
"Our acquisition by LINK provides AMM with new opportunities for growth within a larger organization. We look forward to work together with our new LINK colleagues in offering leading CPaaS solutions to our combined Italian customers", says Riccardo Dragoni, CEO of AMM.
LINK has agreed to acquire 6,351,815 shares (representing approximately 81.4% of the issued and outstanding shares) in AMM for EUR 2.40 per share, at a share premium of 19.4% over the closing price on 26 April 2021. The transaction values the total share capital of AMM at a market capitalization of approximately EUR 18.7 million, implying a forecasted 2021 EV/EBITDA multiple of 6.77x. Upon completion of the transaction, the purchase price will be settled in cash. The transaction is subject to customary conditions for completion. The transaction is planned to close during May 2021.
LINK is also planning to launch a mandatory offer for the remaining approximately 18,6% free float shares at EUR 2.40 per share and a voluntary offer for 146.475 outstanding warrants in AMM at EUR 0.80 per warrant.
In a separate agreement, the sellers of AMM have agreed to subscribe for new shares in LINK at a subscription price per share equal to the volume weighted average price per share of the last 5 trading days prior to the closing date, for an amount equal to 40% of the purchase price received by the sellers under the transaction. The shares will be subject to lock-up for a 6-month period after closing of the transaction.
AGP Advokater is acting as Norwegian legal counsel and DLA Piper Italy is acting as Italian legal counsel to LINK in connection with the transactions. The sellers of the majority participation in the share capital of AMM have been assisted by Nctm Studio Legale.
For further information, please contact
Tom Rogn, VP Investor Relations
+47 94 85 56 59
tom.rogn@linkmobility.com
press@linkmobility.com
About LINK
LINK is one of Europe's leading providers of mobile messaging and Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) solutions for increased engagement. The company serves enterprise, SME and government customers. LINK offers a wide range of innovative and scalable mobile solutions, creating valuable digital convergence between businesses and customers, governments and citizens, platforms and users. LINK has over 40,000 customer accounts globally and exchanges more than 10 billion messages a year. For more information about LINK, please see www.linkmobility.com
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.