The following excerpt is from an article in the December 27, 2012 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune:
Ancestry.com CEO Tim Sullivan said Thursday he expects almost no changes in the company’s operations after shareholders approved the sale of the Provo company to the European private equity firm Permira and other investors.
Ninety-nine percent of total votes cast, representing about 75 percent of the total shares, were in favor of the sale, Ancestry.com said. Voting took place at a hotel in Provo, where the company that sells access to family history databases and other genealogical services is based.
The cash deal was valued at $1.6 billion.
“In terms of operating the business, really nothing is going to change,” said Sullivan, who is staying on as CEO, while Howard Hochhauser will remain as chief financial officer. “I think we’re really fortunate to be a partner with Permira because they are very much buying into our growth strategy.”
Sullivan and Hochhauser committed to exchange, or roll over, up to $82 million of their existing equity in Ancestry.com into a new company created for the transaction. A previous group, Spectrum Equity Investors, had held about 31 percent of outstanding voting shares of Ancestry.com. It agreed to roll over $100 million of its common stock in exchange for common stock of the new company controlled by Permira.
Spectrum invested in Ancestry.com in 2007, two years before the Utah company went public.
In 2011, Ancestry.com reported a 33 percent increase in annual income, to nearly $400 million, with net income up 71 percent, to almost $63 million.
Permira, based in London, agreed to pay $32 a share for the company. Ancestry.com closed trading Thursday at $32 a share, down 2 cents. The shares had a 52-week high of $33.80.
Ancestry.com officially was purchased by Global Generations International Inc., and its subsidiary, Global Generations Merger Sub Inc., which are owned by Permira Advisers LLC.
