Cision has agreed to go public by merging with Capitol Acquisition Corp. III (NASDAQ: CLAC), a blank-check company led by Venturehouse Group CEO Mark Ein, in a deal that will give Cision an enterprise value of about $2.4 billion, a 10.5x multiple of projected 2017 EBITDA. GTCR has backed Cision, a provider of marketing and public relations services, since 2014; the Chicago-based firm will retain its majority stake upon completion of the transaction.
The deal comes about nine months after GTCR and Cision completed a major add-on, acquiring press-release distribution hub PR Newswire for $841 million. It will be the third reverse merger conducted by Ein and Capitol Acquisition since 2009, following previous deals to take travel provider Lindblad Expeditions (NASDAQ: LIND) and real estate investment trust Two Harbors Investment (NYSE: TWO) onto the public markets.
Article by PitchBook
