It has been our privilege to be part of the rich history of this historic venue, and we wish the business and management team great success under its new ownership. Now that the period of transition is complete, it is the right time for Capco to exit its ownership of the venue. Following the successful transition of shows from the former Earls Court exhibition centres and our strategic investment in recent years, Olympia London is now established as the preferred central London venue for premium shows. “ We are pleased to announce the sale of Olympia London to the Consortium. Ian Hawksworth, Chief Executive of Capco, commented:

Following the Disposal, Capco’s pro-forma LTV as at 31 December 2016 decreases from 23 per cent to 17 per cent.

The Disposal provides an opportunity for Capco to realise significant cash proceeds which will be used initially to repay bank debt and subsequent to this, for deployment in Capco’s core central London estates, as well as to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

After repayment of debt, working capital adjustments and transaction-related costs, net proceeds are approximately £229 million, in line with the net asset value of Venues.

The Disposal is for a total gross consideration of £296 million (before net debt and working capital adjustments).

Capco has been advised by Rothschild and CBRE on this transaction.

The Consortium is advised by investment firm Deutsche Finance International and Yoo Capital, as UK co-investor. Venues has been sold to a consortium of German institutional investors, which includes Bayerische Versorgungskammer (Germany’s largest manager of public pension schemes investing through a fund managed by Universal-Investment) as the single largest shareholder, the Versicherungskammer Bayern Group (Germany’s largest public insurer) and DFI European Value Add Fund (together the “Consortium”).

Capco today announces that it has exchanged and completed on the sale of Venues, its exhibition business, comprising Olympia London together with certain related property assets, for a total gross cash consideration of £296 million (the “Disposal”).

Earls court london olympic venue