D’Ieteren Group announced Sunday July 11 that Hellman & Friedman, BlackRock-Managed Funds and GIC are joining the company’s list of shareholders and will acquire up to a total of 13 percent of Belron.
This ownership change will give Belron at an Enterprise Value* of approximately $24.9 billion USD, with an Equity Value* of $20 billion USD.
Though D’Ieteren Group announced in a press release that its long-term commitment to Belron has been reaffirmed, it is retaining 50.01 percent of the company’s diluted share capital. The private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) will also retain its fully diluted shareholding of 24 percent. The third largest shareholder of Belron will become Hellman and Frieidman with c.9 percent of fully diluted shareholding.
D’Ieteren says the new shareholder agreement includes a new capital allocation policy that will result in the gradual reduction of Belron’s leverage to 3x its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by 2025, down from 4.1x at the time of its last refinancing in April 2021.
“We look forward to welcoming our new shareholders and thank them for the confidence that their investment demonstrates in us,” said Belron chief executive officer Gary Lubner. “We have always sought to have a strong commitment to hard work and excellence as well as a determination to provide first class customer service. For all of us at Belron we continue to invest in and grow the business for the long term based on our values.”
Operating in 40 countries, Belron includes franchised and wholly-owned businesses such as Carglass®, Safelite® and Autoglass®.
*According to Investopedia, enterprise value (EV) is a measure of a company’s total value, often used as a more comprehensive alternative to equity market capitalization. Equity value constitutes the value of the company’s shares and loans that the shareholders have made available to the business. The calculation for equity value adds enterprise value to redundant assets (non-operating assets) and then subtracts the debt net of cash available. Total equity value can then be further broken down into the value of shareholders’ loans and (both common and preferred) shares outstanding.
