Sweden’s Cint Jumps After $1.1 Billion U.S. Acquisition

(Bloomberg) -- Swedish market research firm Cint Group AB agreed to buy U.S. analytics company Lucid Holdings LLC for about $1.1 billion to expand its foothold in the digital survey market. Cint’s shares climbed to a record in Stockholm.

Cint, which listed in the Swedish capital in February, will pay $580 million in cash and $470 million in shares for Lucid, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The deal is seen closing by the end of the year.

The New Orleans-headquartered Lucid runs a research technology platform that provides access to first-party survey data with respondents in over 100 countries.

“The acquisition of Lucid will establish the combined group as a U.S. and global leader in technology enabled insights, further strengthening Cint’s driven platform,” the company said. “Furthermore, the transaction will give Cint access to a highly competitive audience-tracking technology and offering.”

Shares in Cint rose as much as 19% in Stockholm, giving the company a market value of about 18 billion kronor.

Cint, whose main shareholder is private-equity firm Nordic Capital, expects run-rate annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization synergy potential of 40 million euros ($46.4 million) to be fully implemented within 24 months of closing of the deal, with initial benefits in the first 6 months after closing.

To finance the cash part of the deal, the Swedish company raised 4.4 billion kronor ($512 million) in a new share issue, selling about 39.5 million shares at 111.50 kronor apiece through an accelerated bookbuild. It has also secured $120 million of debt financing.

Carnegie Investment Bank AB and Danske Bank A/S acted as financial advisors and joint bookrunners in the directed share issue.

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