Asda-owner TDR snaps up former SPAC merger target CorpAcq | Money News

The private equity owner of Asda has struck a deal to buy a controlling stake in a group which specialises in backing British SMEs.

Sky News has learnt that TDR Capital has agreed to acquire a majority interest in CorpAcq, less than six months after the so-called ‘corporate compounder’ aborted a deal to list in the US.

City sources said this weekend that CorpAcq, which makes roughly £125m in annual profit, was being valued at well over £1bn on an enterprise value basis in the deal with TDR.

Founded in 2006, CorpAcq – which sponsors Sale FC Rugby’s stadium, near its Altrincham base – has amassed a portfolio of more than 40 companies.

It specialises in buy-and-build strategies, with a focus on companies operating in the industrial products and services sectors.

The company’s acquisition blueprint enables SME founders to retain management control while gaining a long-term investment partner offering operational support to those businesses.

CorpAcq’s founder is Simon Orange, brother of the former Take That member Jason and joint-owner of the Sale Sharks.

In 2023, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) founded by Michael Klein, one of Wall Street’s leading financiers, announced a $1.5bn plan to take CorpAcq public.

The merger was called off in August last year, with Mr Klein’s vehicle Churchill Capital VII citing difficult IPO market conditions.

Banking sources said that TDR and CorpAcq had entered discussions well after the SPAC deal was abandoned.

The deal, which could be announced within weeks, is the latest to be struck by TDR, which also counts the pubs giant Stonegate and David Lloyd Leisure among its portfolio of investments.

A spokesman for TDR declined to comment.