Blackstone Completes Acquisition of Ancestry®, Leading Online Family History Business, for $4.7 Billion
December 04 2020 - 3:00PM
Business Wire
Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced that private equity funds
managed by Blackstone (“Blackstone”) have completed their
previously announced acquisition of Ancestry® from Silver Lake,
GIC, Spectrum Equity, Permira, and other equity holders for a total
enterprise value of $4.7 billion. Current Ancestry investor GIC
will continue to retain a significant minority stake in the
company.
Ancestry is the global leader in digital family history
services, operating in more than 30 countries. The company has over
3.6 million subscribers, with annual revenue of over $1 billion.
The company harnesses the information found in family trees and
historical records to help people gain a new level of understanding
about their lives. Ancestry also operates a market-leading consumer
genomics business, which informs consumers about their heritage and
key health characteristics.
David Kestnbaum, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, and
Sachin Bavishi, a Managing Director at Blackstone, said: “We are
very excited about Ancestry’s future, as the company continues to
demonstrate strong growth as the industry leader. We look forward
to partnering with Ancestry in the years ahead to help the company
further expand its product offerings and drive ongoing technology
innovation so that an even greater number of families can discover
more about their histories and themselves.”
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as lead financial advisor to
Ancestry. Barclays also served as a financial advisor to Ancestry.
BofA Securities, Credit Suisse, and JPMorgan served as financial
advisors to Blackstone. Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as
legal advisor to Ancestry and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is
serving as legal advisor to Blackstone. Dechert LLP is serving as
legal advisor to GIC.
CEO Transition
Margo Georgiadis, Ancestry President & CEO, has announced
that she has informed the board that she plans to depart the
company at the end of 2020. The company expects to announce a new
CEO in early 2021 who will drive the next phase of the company’s
ongoing growth. Ms. Georgiadis will remain available for a period
of time after her departure to assist in a smooth transition.
“I’m so proud of the collective accomplishments of the Ancestry
team and am confident in the company’s continued success,” said
Georgiadis. “In partnership with Blackstone and Ancestry’s deep
bench of management talent, the company is well positioned for
continued growth, delivering on its mission to empower journeys of
personal discovery for millions of people around the world.”
Eric Wilmes, Head of Private Equity, Americas at GIC, and
Stephen Evans, a Managing Director at Silver Lake, said, “Margo has
made a tremendous impact on this organization, and we are grateful
for her many contributions. She has created a best-in-class
leadership team and led a process of rebuilding and strengthening
our products and our business. On behalf of the entire board, we
wish Margo the very best in her next chapter.”
About Blackstone
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We
seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our
investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which
we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible
capital to help companies solve problems. Our $584 billion in
assets under management include investment vehicles focused on
private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences,
growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real
assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further
information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone
on Twitter @Blackstone.
About Ancestry®
Ancestry®, the global leader in family history and consumer
genomics, empowers journeys of personal discovery to enrich lives.
With our unparalleled collection of 27 billion records and over 18
million people in our growing DNA network, customers can discover
their family story and gain actionable insights about their health
and wellness. For over 30 years, we’ve built trusted relationships
with millions of people who have chosen us as the platform for
discovering, preserving and sharing the most important information
about themselves and their families.
About GIC
GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to
manage Singapore’s foreign reserves. A disciplined long-term value
investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide
range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, private
equity, real estate and infrastructure. In private equity, GIC
invests through funds as well as directly in companies, partnering
with its fund managers and management teams to help world class
businesses achieve their objectives. Headquartered in Singapore,
GIC employs over 1,700 people across 10 offices in key financial
cities worldwide. For further information on GIC, visit
www.gic.com.sg.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201204005567/en/
For Blackstone: Matt Anderson
Matthew.Anderson@blackstone.com +1 518 248 7310 For
Ancestry: Julie Miller mediarelations@ancestry.com +858
232-5609 For GIC: Katy Conrad katyconrad@gic.com.sg
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