Auction Technology acquires Vintage Software in $40m deal

E-commerce service Auction Technology Group has acquired US estate sales listing site Vintage Software in a deal valued at $40.0m.

Auction Technology stated the acquisition expands its immediately addressable market into the "growing and fragmented US estate sales market", which had an estimated gross merchandise value of $5.0bn in 2022.

The London-listed group will make an initial cash payment of $30.0bn, plus a deferred cash consideration of $10.0m, payable after twelve months. A total of up to $2.0m employee retention bonus will also be payable to certain employees of ESN after 12 months.

The acquisition will be funded from ATG's available cash balance and existing debt facilities.

Chief executive John-Paul Savant said: "As a leading US estate sale listing site, estatesales.net is a natural fit for ATG as we unlock further areas of value within the secondary goods market and facilitate another part of the circular economy.

"We are excited by the multiple growth opportunities ahead, including enabling more sellers of unique and specialised secondary items to cross-list across multiple marketplaces and gain access to a larger pool of bidders and buyers, as well as the opportunity to develop ESN into the leading online estate sales platform in the US."

As of 0825 GMT, Auction Technology shares were up 4.39% at 713.0p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com