Ancestry.com to issue third dividend since sale to Permira in 2012

Ancestry.com said on August 10 that it is in the market with $835 million in loans that it plans to use to repay debt and fund a cash dividend to its shareholders (along with paying fees and expenses).

Morgan Stanley is leading the credit facility, Thomson Reuters Loan Pricing Corp said.

Proceeds from the $835 million in loans will partly be used to fund a $215 million special dividend to Ancestry.com’s shareholders, Standard & Poor’s said in an August 10 note.

North Provo, Utah-based Ancestry.com is a geneaology website with more than 16 billion records that subscribers can use to research their heritage. The company last month reported that its second quarter revenue grew nearly 9 percent to $169.4 million on $13.7 million in net income. Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter was $67.3 million, a statement said.

In 2012, Permira led a consortium to buy Ancestry.com in a $1.6 billion deal. The deal closed in December of that year. Total equity in the transaction, which includes rollover from management and private investors, came to $685 million, a source said.

Permira owns 50 percent of Ancestry.com, a source said. Three Permira representatives sit on Ancestry.com’s seven-member Operating Committee, according to the company’s website.

The current $215 million dividend is the third payout Ancestry.com has issued since the Permira-led group acquired the company in 2012. Ancestry.com paid out a distribution in September 2013 and another in February 2014 for a combined $400 million, the source said. In all, Ancestry has paid out more than $600 million in dividends.

News of the dividends comes as Permira has put Ancestry.com up for sale, Reuters reported in May. Permira was seeking bids of $2 billion to $2.5 billion, Reuters said. It’s unclear if the auction is ongoing.

Permira used its fourth fund to invest in Ancestry.com. Permira Fund IV collected 9.6 billion euros ($10.6 billion) in 2006. Last year, the European private equity firm’s fifth buyout fund raised 5.3 billion euros ($5.9 billion). Permira IV LP is producing a 6.3 percent net IRR and 1.3x investment multiple as of December 31, according to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. The fifth fund, a very young pool, is generating an -11.9 percent net IRR and 0.9x investment multiple, CalPERS said.

Ancestry.com could not be reached for comment.