Apax Partners Annual Report 2009 2 How do we release potential? MediaApax Partners Annual Report 2009 2 How we release potential

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Better handling

Apax Partners identified the strong potential of the Auto Trader brand and products in 2005. The increasing shift to digital platforms combined with Auto Trader’s leading position in automotive classified ads to create a market leader.

Trader Media Group

Trader Media Group is a perfect example of an established media company thriving online

Back in 2005 Apax Partners’ Media team identified Trader Media Group as a business of considerable interest.

The company has two principal assets: the Auto Trader series of publications and, importantly, the autotrader.co.uk website. It was clear to the Apax team that the company was well positioned to benefit from the industry shift from print to online.

New leadershipCrucial to the success of this would be recruiting as CEO someone with experience of refocusing a company for the digital age. Anticipating that at some point Trader Media Group might be for sale, the Apax team used  its extensive network to identify John King as potential CEO of the business. John was at the time CEO of an Australian specialist classified publisher, which he had successfully led through the transition from print to online.

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Trader Media continued

Each visitor spends on average 20 minutes on the site, searching over 350,000 vehicles.

The website facilitates nearly 700,000 transactions every month.

350,000

700,000

The Auto Trader website has over 10 million visitors per month.

10mAt the same time, the Apax team began a programme of comprehensive outside-in due diligence on Trader in order to understand the business’s prospects better, and also began a series of conversations with GMG to understand their aspirations for the business.

When GMG decided in 2007 to sell half of Trader, 28 private equity firms were interested in buying the stake on offer.

Partnering with ApaxCarolyn McCall, former CEO, Guardian Media Group said, “We chose Apax because we felt we could work very well with them: because they have sector experience; because they are growth investors; and because we know some of the people already. We felt there was a definite alignment, even then, in how we approached the business”

Post-acquisition, Tom Hall and Irina Hemmers, partners in Apax Partners’ Media team, joined the Chief Executives and Finance Directors of both Guardian Media Group and Trader Media Group on the Board of Trader.

After divesting non-core businesses and reorganising the sales force to strengthen both publishing and digital sales, a key element in the company’s transition was a material re-launch of the Auto Trader website. Supported by Seth Brody from Apax’s Portfolio Support Group, Trader invested over £6m in the project to give the company a springboard for future online growth.

The aim was to make the new site as welcoming and easy to use as possible, and expand the range of products and services on offer. The newly-designed site is cleaner, with larger images, more detailed car specifications and better search functionality. For advertisers, the ability to stand out on the site is an advantage which has led to an increase in revenue for Trader from contextual advertising.

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The other factor that has accelerated Trader’s growth is the introduction of new products for dealers: the company now provides dealer websites and B2B services to help dealers move stock around the country.

Of course a digital business needs to keep pace with the latest technological developments. With the extraordinarily rapid rise in the use of smartphones in the UK, the next step for Trader is distributing mobile content as widely as it can through its own mobile site and also through a new iPhone application.

John King, CEO of Trader Media Group commented: “The value that Apax has brought to this transition has really been about understanding that a business like ours had to go through a complete transformation. It’s not the sort of journey you’d like to go on as a publicly listed company. You could only really do what we’ve been able to achieve over the last three years in the hands of private shareholders who understand and believe in the vision and future that the organisation has. They have been instrumental in sticking with us through good times and more difficult times, and have never lost belief in what we all agree this business can achieve.”

Support continued AutoTrader.co.uk – How it handles

I’d been looking for a Focus for weeks. Decided to try Auto Trader’s website and found the perfect model in less than 10 minutes.

Carl Farrow Colchester, Essex

Location-based searchingFind your perfect car in the next street, or search the whole of the UK for an even wider selection.

National TV advertising raised the profile of the new Auto Trader website.

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2 How we release potential

Trader Media continued

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Supermini

Mini MPV

People Carrier

Sports

Estate

SUV

Aston Martin

Bentley

Jaguar

Porsche

Try it for yourself!www.autotrader.co.uk

We just couldn’t agree. It must have been a year that we’d been arguing. Then we used the ‘right-car’ function, and found our C3 Picasso.

Emma and Carl Martin Leicester

I’d looked in all the specialist magazines, but couldn’t find my dream red E-type. Then my wonderful husband gave me this for my 40th. I can’t believe he found it on Auto Trader.

Hayley Debbarge Ipswich, Suffolk

‘Right-car’ function checks every detail against your criteriaChoose all the key features that you and your family need. We’ll choose the most suitable cars.

Auto classicsAuto Trader is one of the nation’s premier sources for classic cars. Search for your dream motor by age, mileage, price, body type and colour.

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