Alex Webb, Columnist

The Debt-Laden LBO that Wants to Be a Hot Tech IPO

TeamViewer’s private equity owner looks to be the only sure winner from its IPO.

September 13, 2019 at 10:26 AM UTC

Alex Webb is a correspondent for Bloomberg Quicktake. He previously covered the technology, telecoms and media industries in London, San Francisco and Munich.

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Photographer: Michael Bocchieri/Getty Images

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There's a difference between leveraged buyouts and venture capital: debt. It's a distinction one European private equity firm seems to want investors to overlook. They shouldn’t let their eagerness to jump on the tech bandwagon blind them to it.

London-based private equity firm Permira Holdings LLP is preparing an initial public offering of TeamViewer AG. The deal may value the German software maker at as much as 5.5 billion euros ($6.1 billion). That’s more than 17 times 2019 billings. ServiceNow Inc., a similar enterprise cloud software firm in the U.S., trades at a mere 12.5 times forward billings.