Funds advised by Apax Partners to acquire Boats Group

by | Jul 19, 2016 | Boats Group, News

New York and Norfolk, Virginia, July 18, 2016 – Funds advised by Apax Partners today
announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Dominion Marine
Media (“Boats Group”), the leading global marine classifieds marketplace and marketing software
solutions provider to marine brokers and dealers, from Dominion Enterprises, a subsidiary of
Landmark Media Enterprises. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions,
is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2016. Terms of the transaction were not
disclosed.

Operating the world’s largest and most popular recreational marine digital marketplaces – Boat
Trader, boats.com, YachtWorld, and CosasDeBarcos – Boats Group attracts over 62 million unique
visitors annually to more than 300,000 unique boat and yacht listings. Boats Group’s digital solutions
serve over 5,000 dealers and brokers in more than 143 countries, enabling them to effectively
reach in-market consumers, increase dealer inventory turnover, and improve their overall
profitability.

“Our world-class brands have a long tradition of excellence in providing leading digital business
solutions for the recreational boating industry,” said Ian Atkins, Boats Group’s
President. “We are confident that the expertise and resources provided by the Apax team will
not only further our mission of driving boat sales globally, but will be essential to our next phase
of growth.”

Marcelo Gigliani, Partner at Apax Partners, commented: “The recreational marine industry is
poised for digital transformation and Boats Group is the only integrated digital media, technology and
data platform positioned to capture this opportunity globally. We are excited to be backing Ian
and his team and are eager to leverage our experience investing in and operating leading digital
classifieds businesses to accelerate growth at Boats Group.”

Through the Apax Digital practice, the Apax Funds are a leading private equity investor in the
digital classifieds/lead generation and digital marketing solutions space, combining extensive
digital investment expertise across three continents with deep operational value-add. Selected
recent digital investments include TRADER Corporation (Canada), AutoTrader (UK), Bankrate
(US), Dealer.com (US), Idealista (Spain), and Soufun (China).

Apax Partners was advised by Kirkland & Ellis (legal counsel) and PricewaterhouseCoopers
(financial/tax advisor). Dominion Enterprises was advised by Evercore (M&A advisor) and
Willcox and Savage (legal counsel).