Technology-focused buyout firm Silver Lake agreed to acquire Facile.it, Italy’s largest price-comparison website.
Silver Lake will buy Facile.it from private equity firms EQT AB and Oakley Capital, according to a statement, which confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report. Financial details weren’t disclosed.
The transaction values Facile.it at around 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion), people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
The deal marks a successful exit for EQT at a time when weak market sentiment has hurt demand for technology companies and other growth assets. It’s also another example of private equity firms flush with cash looking for investment targets in the portfolios of other buyout funds.
Facile.it, founded in 2008, allows customers to review prices from services ranging from auto insurance to personal finance. The company generated 140 million euros ($147 million) in revenue last year, according to a statement.
“Investing in high-growth and pioneering business models with differentiated technology capabilities is at the core of our mission,” Christian Lucas, co-head of Silver Lake in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said in the statement.
EQT bought Facile.it in 2018. The sale to Silver Lake adds to the roughly $26.9 billion of private equity acquisitions targeting the European technology industry this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, EQT said in the statement. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advised EQT on the sale.
