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Ancestry.com agrees to sale for $1.6B

AP
On line 15 the name Andrew Carnegie, founder of Carnegie Steel, is seen with Civil War enlistees in a book of Civil War draft records. The National Archives and Ancestry.com made digitized Civil War records available online.
  • European private equity firm Permira Funds buys the site
  • Ancestry has said it wanted to explore a sale
  • The company expects no changes in operations

PROVO, Utah (AP) — Genealogy website Ancestry.com has agreed to be acquired by a group led by European private equity firm Permira Funds in a cash deal valued at about $1.6 billion.

The offered price of $32 per share (ACOM) is a nearly 10% premium over Friday's closing price of $29.18. Company shares jumped nearly 8%, or $2.31, to $31.49 Monday in premarket trading.

Ancestry.com also said the price represents a 41% premium over its closing price in early June before reports surfaced that the company had retained a financial advisor for a possible sale. Company shares have climbed from around $21 in early June and hit a 52-week high of $33.80 in early August before dropping back.

Ancestry.com operates a website for researching family history and has more than 2 million paying subscribers. It says more than 10 billion records have been added to its site over the past 15 years.

Ancestry.com said there will be no anticipated changes in its operating structure with this deal. The company will remain headquartered in Provo, Utah, and it will continue to focus on investing in content, technology and expanding product offerings in areas like DNA.

CEO Tim Sullivan and Chief Financial Officer Howard Hochhauser will keep a majority of their equity stakes, and Spectrum Equity will remain an investor. Spectrum owns a 30 percent stake in the company.

The company expects the deal to close early next year.

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