06 Jun Tele Atlas
Over a five-year period, Atlas Advisors advised Tele Atlas N.V., a leader in digital mapping, in expanding its global presence and introducing the next generation of navigation technology. Assisted by Atlas Advisors, the company undertook a series of transformational, value-enhancing transactions that reshaped the sector and Tele Atlas’s place in it. These included a strategic acquisition, a market listing that created significant liquidity and attracted world-class investors, and the sale of the company to a vertically integrated GPS industry leader. Tele Atlas’ share price increased almost eight-fold in that short time – from €4.00 per share (30 days prior to the announcement of the strategic acquisition of GDT) to €30.00 per share in its the sale to TomTom N.V., announced in November 2007.
In 2003, Atlas Advisors was engaged to advise Tele Atlas on a simultaneous capital-raising and acquisition: a $210 million equity transaction, and the negotiated acquisition of Geographic Data Technologies, Inc. (“GDT”), the number-two player in the United States, for $100 million. At the time, Tele Atlas had a market capitalization of €132 million.
Atlas Advisors analyzed several financing alternatives and, concluding that the public financing markets were not available to the company, developed a capital solution based on a private investment in public equity (“PIPE”) structure. The transaction took the form of a $210 million convertible preferred stock capital-raise, one of the largest PIPE financings in the market at the time, with anchor investments from by Oak Investment Partners and New Enterprise Associates. Concurrently, Tele Atlas, advised by Atlas Advisors, concluded its bid to acquire GDT in June 2004. The simultaneous acquisition and financing by sophisticated investors raised Tele Atlas’s profile, positioning the company to list its shares on Euronext the following year.
In 2005, Tele Atlas sought to increase its research coverage by equity analysts and market float through a “re-IPO,” which would also provide liquidity to shareholders in the PIPE transaction. Atlas Advisors was retained again to advise Tele Atlas on its listing on the EuroNext exchange in Amsterdam. The company and its investors successfully closed a €537 million offering on November 18, 2005 at €18.50 per share, representing a market capitalization of €1.7 billion for the company.
In 2007, Tele Atlas relied on its longstanding relationship with Atlas Advisors to explore its strategic alternatives after being approached with an acquisition proposal by TomTom N.V., a global leader in personal navigation devices. Atlas Advisors considered several potential strategic alternatives before advising Tele Atlas on its negotiation of a transaction with TomTom.
The announcement of the proposed acquisition sparked a bidding war with TomTom’s global rival Garmin. After a months-long contested auction overseen by Atlas Advisors, TomTom acquired Tele Atlas for €30.00 per share or a €2.8 billion market value (approximately $4.4 billion). The final price represented an 81% premium over the closing share price on July 20, 2007, the last business day prior to the initial TomTom-Tele Atlas announcement, and a multiple of 41 times 2007 adjusted EBITDA.