A group of banks including HSBC, Barclays and BNP Paribas are in talks to finance Apollo’s acquisition of UK-based parcel delivery firm Evri from Advent, according to market sources.
The deal, which was announced yesterday, is likely to be syndicated across bonds and loans given its size, market sources said, adding that the bank line-up will be sorted in the next two to three weeks. HSBC is advising Apollo on the financing, sources said.
Apollo yesterday said it is acquiring Evri in a deal that values the firm at around £2.7 billion, according to sources. Apollo declined to comment. BNP Paribas declined to comment.
Advent bought Evri in 2020 after acquiring the UK operations of the Hermes parcel delivery group from German mail-order company Otto for nearly £1 billion, and later rebranding it to Evri.
The deal also comes barely months after Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky bought Royal Mail for nearly £3.6 billion. The Evri deal is also the second PE buyout in the UK this year, as in January, H.I.G. Europe took Evri rival DX Group private in a £307 million deal, according to PitchBook Data.
Evri serves more than 12 million customers per week, and has grown into a key leader in parcel delivery, with a strong national network purpose-built for third-party e-commerce parcels and a differentiated last-mile delivery model.
The Evri transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024.
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