BLS International has completed the acquisition of 100% equity shares of Citizenship Invest, a Dubai-based company that specialises in fast-track investor programs for residency and citizenship across over 15 countries.
Shikhar Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director of BLS International, said the acquisition will add to the growth and margin of BLS starting October-December 2024 (third quarter).
Aggarwal noted that with BLS’s global network in over 70 countries, they see significant growth opportunities in this industry, driven by high-net-worth individuals seeking second passports and residency options.
In 2023, Citizenship Invest achieved a turnover of ₹81 crore and an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of ₹40 crore, with a 45% EBITDA margin.
BLS acquired Citizenship for ₹260 crore, at a six to seven times multiple.
The current market capitalisation of the company is ₹14,940 crore.
This is the verbatim transcript of the interview.
Q: What I understand is that I think you are, in total, going to pay around Rs 260 crore for this acquisition, right? The company’s current sales are about Rs 81 crore, so you are paying almost three times sales. Tell us the rationale, how it fits in with your portfolio, and what it brings to the table?
A: Citizenship Invest is a company that was established in the year 2009 so it has a 15-year track record. And currently, they do citizenship by investment and residency programs. And the last year, in calendar year 2023, they did a turnover of ₹81 crore and EBITDA of ₹40 crore. So 45% EBITDA margin and we have paid ₹260 crore, which is around a six-time or seven-time, multiple. Typically we buy companies around that level. So this company is performing phenomenally well, it is one of the market leaders in this industry.
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With our network in 70-plus countries, we feel the market opportunity is very big for this kind of industry, wherein there are HNIs, who are investing in second passports residency across different parts of the world. So we definitely feel that we can value and grow this company in the coming years.
Q: You are saying that Citizenship Invest looks at helping the entire documentation process, specifically from an investment perspective, for anyone who is looking to take on dual citizenship purely because of investment. Can you just elaborate on this? How does the model work?
A: In this industry, this company is authorized by 15 countries. They are one of the authorized service providers for these 15 countries, in Caribbean Island, in European countries, etc. So, they help individuals obtain passports by investments or donations, and different schemes of different governments are there. And they also help in obtaining residencies of different governments, of different countries.
Globally, there is a big demand for this kind of service. The market size is – it is a multi-billion dollar market. Every year, around 30,000-40,000 applications are processed. And this company does only around 300-400 applications every year. So the market potential is huge. There’s a huge growth potential. They are currently headquartered in Dubai.
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With our reach of 70-plus countries and millions of customers, we will definitely try to upsell these services. So we see major growth in the coming years. And also, this company grew 43% last year. So this year, also, we expect good growth coming in in this company.
Q: You are saying that all of your customers using the services of this Dubai-based company will be able to get citizenship of these key jurisdictions. Can you just name the jurisdictions?
A: We are currently present in 70-plus countries.
Q: I am talking about the jurisdictions for which this company has authorization that it can get you citizenship in these 15 odd countries, which are these countries?
A: There are multiple countries in the Caribbean islands and multiple countries in Europe. So every year, new countries introduce different schemes. So there are multiple countries.
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