6 June 2025

Apax Funds to support WGSN in the acquisition of IWSR

Apax Global Alpha Limited (“AGA”), the closed-ended investment company providing access to the Apax Private Equity Funds, today announces that it expects to invest an additional c.€3m indirectly in WGSN following WGSN’s acquisition of IWSR.

On 5 June 2025, WGSN, an Apax XI Fund (“Apax XI”) portfolio company in which AGA is a limited partner, announced that it has acquired IWSR, a leader in data, analytics, and insights for the beverage alcohol industry.

WGSN is a leading consumer trend forecaster, providing global trend insights across a wide range of industries including fashion, beauty, food & drink, interiors, and consumer technology. Apax XI first invested in WGSN in 2024 and saw the opportunity to drive value creation by expanding into new products, verticals, and customer bases through M&A.

IWSR is a leading global provider of data and insights for the alcoholic beverage market. The company offers proprietary data covering more than 160 countries, built from over 40 years of supplier-contributed information. IWSR presented a compelling opportunity to expand WGSN’s position in the beverage space and the move supports WGSN’s strategy to expand its market-leading trend forecasting capabilities, AI, data analytics, and insights across a broad range of consumer industries.

Including this acquisition, AGA has invested a total of approximately €24.7m in WGSN on a look-through basis. Note that AGA’s investment is calculated based on the look-through positions of Apax XI’s overall investment in WGSN and is translated based on the latest applicable exchange rates at the time of each investment¹. AGA has a commitment of c.$700m to Apax XI².

AGA, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, provides investors with access to a portfolio of private equity funds advised by Apax as well as a smaller portfolio of debt instruments.

For more information about the transaction, please visit:
https://www.apax.com/news/press-releases/

END

Contact details:
Investor Relations – AGA
Lorraine Rees / Aditya Jhaveri
T: +44 (0) 207 872 6364
E: Investor.relations@apaxglobalalpha.com

Joint Brokers
Jefferies International Limited
Gaudi Le Roux
T: +44 (0)20 7548 4060
E: gleroux@jefferies.com

Investec Bank plc
David Yovichic
T: +44 (0)20 7597 4952
E: david.yovichic@investec.com

Footnotes

Based on Bloomberg closing EUR/USD FX rate on 4 June 2025 of 1.1417 and 30 January 2024 of 1.085.
AGA’s commitment in Apax XI of c.$700m represents a commitment of $476.5m in the USD tranche and €198.4m in the euro tranche.

Notes

Note that references in this announcement to Apax Global Alpha Limited have been abbreviated to “AGA” or “the Company”. References to Apax Partners LLP have been abbreviated to “Apax”, or “the Investment Adviser”.
Please be advised that this announcement may contain inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) NO. 596/2014 (“MAR”).
his announcement is not for release, publication or distribution, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, into or within the United States or to “US persons” (as defined in Regulation S under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”)) or into or within Australia, Canada, South Africa or Japan. Recipients of this announcement in jurisdictions outside the UK should inform themselves about and observe any applicable legal requirements in their jurisdictions. In particular, the distribution of the announcement may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions.
The information presented herein is not an offer for sale within the United States of any equity shares or other securities of Apax Global Alpha Limited (“AGA”). AGA has not been and will not be registered under the US Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). In addition, AGA’s shares (the “Shares”) have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act or any other applicable law of the United States. Consequently, the Shares may not be offered or sold or otherwise transferred within the United States, or to, or for the account or benefit of, US Persons, except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and under circumstances which will not require AGA to register under the Investment Company Act. No public offering of the Shares is being made in the United States.
This announcement may include forward-looking statements. The words “expect”, “anticipate”, “intends”, “plan”, “estimate”, “aim”, “forecast”, “project” and similar expressions (or their negative) identify certain of these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are statements regarding AGA’s intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, AGA’s results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth and strategies. The forward-looking statements in this presentation are based on numerous assumptions regarding AGA’s present and future business strategies and the environment in which AGA will operate in the future. Forward-looking statements involve inherent known and unknown risks, uncertainties and contingencies because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future and may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of AGA to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond AGA’s ability to control or estimate precisely, such as future market conditions, currency fluctuations, the behaviour of other market participants, the actions of regulators and other factors such as AGA’s ability to continue to obtain financing to meet its liquidity needs, changes in the political, social and regulatory framework in which AGA operates or in economic or technological trends or conditions. Past performance should not be taken as an indication or guarantee of future results, and no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made regarding future performance. AGA expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any updates or revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect any change in AGA’s expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based after the date of this announcement, or to update or to keep current any other information contained in this announcement. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this announcement.

About Apax Global Alpha Limited

AGA is a Guernsey registered closed-ended investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is regulated by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.

AGA’s objective is to provide shareholders with capital appreciation from its investment portfolio and regular dividends. The Company is targeting an annualised Total Return, across economic cycles, of 12-15% (net of fees and expenses).

The Company makes Private Equity investments in Apax Funds, and has a portfolio of primarily Debt Investments, derived from the insights gained via Apax’s Private Equity activities.

Further information regarding the Company and its publications are available on the Company’s website at www.apaxglobalalpha.com.

About Apax

Apax Partners LLP (“Apax”) is a leading global private equity advisory firm. For over 50 years, Apax has worked to inspire growth and ideas that transform businesses. The firm has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of nearly $80 billion. The Apax Funds invest in companies across three global sectors of Tech, Services, and Internet/Consumer. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For further information about Apax, please visit www.apax.com.

Apax is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK.