Global buyout funds including Blackstone, The Carlyle Group and CVC are understood to have been running the ruler over Timezone amusement arcade owner The Entertainment and Education Group, say sources.
However, the understanding is that owner of the business, Quadrant Private Equity, is eager to retain it for some additional time to capitalise on the growing demand in the India market.
Timezone is said to be doing a roaring trade in India, and the plan is to further capitalise on that growth.
And Timezone is right in Blackstone’s sweet spot, playing to one of its key investment thematics of entertainment so it will no doubt be watching the situation closely.
Currently the group’s earnings are still mostly skewed towards the Australia market and the plan is to make the business more global.
TEEG would almost certainly command an asking price of at least $1bn.
When the business had been for sale in the past, major buyout funds were then also targeted, including TPG Capital, which purchased Timezone’s rival Funlab from Next Capital for $250m at the end of 2020.
Owners Quadrant Private Equity and the Steinberg family had earlier undertaken a refinancing of TEEG in which Goldman Sachs offloaded some debt and Deutsche Bank and Canyon Partners became lenders.
Quadrant purchased a 50 per cent interest in amusement games business Timezone in 2017 and folded it into the TEEG company it created, which includes other brands such as Play and Learn and also Zone Bowling and KingPin laser tag, which were previously part of Ardent Leisure.
In recent years, its annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation target was between $100m and $150m.
Timezone was founded in Perth by Malcolm Steinberg in the 1970s.
Quadrant’s plan for the business has been to expand into Asian markets.
The business has well over 200 amusement arcades and family amusement centres.
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The understanding is that the UBS-advised Livingbridge had been making efforts to walk up the final bidders on price at the weekend.
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