Flight information and forecasting service OAG is expected to have a new owner after a £160 million deal was struck between parent company UBM and private equity company Electra Partners.
UBM had been looking for a buyer of its so-called Delta data services businesses, including OAG Aviation and its various components, as well as units which serve health, paper and other technology-led industries.
The strategic review (a move to “simplify” its business operations) began in July 2012 and has now led to a binding offer from Electra to purchase the portfolio for $160 million, including a £40 million vendor loan note.
UBM says upon completion of the deal around £100 million will be used to repay its own bank debt.
The businesses being offloaded by UBM generated around £180 million in revenue and adjusted operating profit of £27 million during 2012, a drop of £10 million in revenue but essentially flat on the profit number.
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About Kevin May
A far cry from the price paid when Reed disposed of it. It still boggles the mind that OAG is worth so little when it is so critical to the mechanisms of air travel.
This is Electra Partners second time around for the business. In July 2001 REED ELSEVIER sold it to Electra booking a loss of of approx. $400m So essentially it was sold for a peanuts. Reed had paid $417m for the Official Airline Guides in 1993 combining it with their then ABC Guides (the closest competitor). Its prior owner was the defunct media empire of disgraced financier Robert Maxwell. The US owner D&B has sold it to him in 1989 for somewhere between $800m -$1bn.
At one time the separate units also had a Reservation system – including providing Emirates Airline’s first PSS. The emergence of Innovata (itself born out of the Paper timetable business of Dittler Brothers) sidelined the former powerhouse.
Best of luck to the team over there. Let’s hope the new owners see the value in the data and can take it forward.
Cheers