Commercial Imperative:
From being one of the stars of the City in the 1990′s, Emap’s growth had stagnated under the combined impact of emerging internet trends and falling advertising revenues. Following a full business review the Executive concluded that shareholders interests were best served by an ordered break up of the Group. CPA Role:
Embedded with Emap head office team, CPA ran the property work stream, populating the data room with information on c.80 property interests and ensuring operating companies and guarantors were mapped to entities. This included transfer of redundant lease liabilities to a property holding company, ring fenced from operational companies. The Result:
Emap completed two corporate transactions with German publishers H Bauer and Guardian Media/Apax. Completion ahead of the credit crisis returned extremely good value for shareholders. Simultaneously CPA completed the separate sale of Emap’s property company ensuring that core business corporate values were not adversely affected by redundant lease liabilities.