Unique-Blackstone mulls $4 billion-plus sale of Liftoff, sources say

By Milana Vinn

(Reuters) – Buyout agency Blackstone (NYSE:BX) is weighing strategic choices, together with a sale, for Liftoff that would worth the cellular app advertising supplier at greater than $4 billion, together with debt, two individuals aware of the matter stated on Friday.

The Redwood (NYSE:RWT) Metropolis, California-based firm is working with funding bankers at Goldman Sachs and Jefferies to weigh its choices, which additionally embrace a possible preliminary public providing, the sources stated, requesting anonymity because the matter is confidential. 

The deliberations are at an early stage, the sources stated, cautioning {that a} deal shouldn’t be assured. 

Blackstone is hoping to command a valuation for Liftoff equal to greater than 10 instances the corporate’s 12-month earnings earlier than curiosity, tax, depreciation, and amortization of $350 million, the sources stated. Liftoff at the moment generates about $650 million in annual income. 

Blackstone and Goldman declined to remark, whereas Liftoff didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. Jefferies declined to remark.

Liftoff beforehand explored an IPO in late 2021, earlier than the plans fizzled out after fairness capital markets froze up following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, the sources stated. 

The corporate, which was fashioned by a merger of Vungle and Liftoff that was engineered by Blackstone, supplies a platform for cellular builders to construct, promote, and monetize their purposes. Blackstone acquired Vungle in 2019, and invested in Liftoff the next 12 months. 

Liftoff’s clients embrace massive companies akin to Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), and Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT), in response to its web site. 

New York-based Blackstone, the world’s largest different asset supervisor, had property below administration of greater than $1.1 trillion, as of the tip of September. The buyout big is anticipating an improved atmosphere for dealmaking and a pickup in fairness capital markets to assist it promote and exit greater than twice the variety of non-public fairness investments this 12 months.