Oct. 15, 2009 (PR Newswire) --
BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Capital Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS) announced today that on September 3, it completed the sale of its remaining equity investments in its portfolio company HomeAway Inc., fully exiting the company. American Capital received $15 million in proceeds realizing a $4 million gain during the third quarter from the transaction. The sale was made to a broad group of existing HomeAway investors.
Including investments in HomeAway by American Capital's affiliated funds under management, American Capital realized $18 million in inception-to-date gains. The combined group also received 2.1 times its equity investment and realized a compounded annual rate of return of 39% over the life of its equity investment, including dividends and fees.
"This exit of HomeAway is one of over 20 exits of portfolio companies since the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2008," said Malon Wilkus, Chairman and CEO. "These exits have helped us accumulate substantial liquidity in this market, while reducing our debt by approximately $300 million over the same period."
"HomeAway is an excellent example of American Capital's dedication to growing portfolio companies," said Bowen Diehl, Managing Director, Sponsor Finance. "Since November 2006, American Capital and its affiliated funds under management invested a total of $120 million in HomeAway to support its complimentary add-on acquisitions and expansion strategies, all which greatly created value for the company and assisted in making it the largest network of vacation listings in the world. Our investments in turn have benefited American Capital and its affiliated funds under management as we have received total inception-to-date gains of $18 million."
HomeAway is a leading operator of online listing marketplaces for vacation rental properties in the United States and Europe. HomeAway's portfolio of vacation rental websites includes HomeAway.com, VRBO.com, VacationRentals.com, Holiday-Rentals.co.uk, FeWo-direkt.de, Abritel.fr, Homelidays.fr and OwnersDirect.co.uk.
American Capital and its affiliated funds under management first invested $70 million of debt and equity in HomeAway in November 2006 to support HomeAway's acquisitions. In several follow-on investments in 2007, American Capital and its affiliated funds under management provided an additional $50 million in financing to HomeAway for a total investment of $120 million. Previously, through a series of transactions during 2008, American Capital was repaid its debt investments and partially exited its equity investments in HomeAway. For more information about American Capital's investments in HomeAway, please go to http://www.americancapital.com/our_portfolio/companies/homeaway.html.
