Elliott and Brookfield price $1.4 billion of secured notes at 10.5% to fund their DoubleVerify buyout
Priced on November 10 and settling on November 30, the notes cost about $147 million a year in interest, close to two quarters of DoubleVerify's cash profit. A filing a day earlier moved the expected close into this quarter, leaving holders a five-cent spread against the $13.60 cash price.
Vincent Jiangthree-minute read
Holders are trading five cents against the calendar
DoubleVerify−0.04% — DoubleVerify, down 0.04 percent today opened at $13.55 on November 7 1. The cash waiting at the end of its sale is $13.60 a share 2. That five-cent gap is the whole trade left in the stock: hold to the close and collect it, or sell now and hand it to someone with more patience.
Two filings in two days then fixed when that payout lands. On November 9 the company told the Securities and Exchange Commission it expects to close the sale "during the fourth quarter of 2026" 3, pulling forward the first-quarter-2027 timetable of its October 30 report 4. A day later, Neptune BidCo US, the buying affiliate controlled by a consortium led by Elliott Investment Management and Brookfield Business Partners, priced $1.4 billion of 10.500% senior secured notes due 2033; the money arrives on November 30 5.
What 10.5 percent buys
The interest on that single tranche runs about $147 million a year 2. DoubleVerify earned $75.4 million of adjusted EBITDA, a cash-profit measure, on revenue of $205.6 million last quarter, up 9 percent 4; a year of coupon is close to two quarters of the target's cash profit. The money pays for a deal agreed on August 6 at $13.60 a share, an enterprise value of about $2.15 billion and a 30 percent premium to the 60-day average price, approved by stockholders on October 29 with about 94 percent of votes cast 24.
Debt was never a condition of the merger 2: the coupon sets the buyers' cost of carrying the deal, not what shareholders collect.
Analysts have stopped arguing for upside
Broker analysts have closed the case. The consensus price target on DoubleVerify is $13.52, below the deal, and 14 of 16 rate the stock Hold 1. The shares have run from a 12-month low of $7.64 to five cents under the cash-out 1. The agreement runs to an outside date of May 6, 2027, extendable by three months, with a $144 million termination fee payable by the buyer in specified cases 6. The coupon lands on the combined company, which Nielsen projects at more than $4 billion of pro forma revenue 2, not on DoubleVerify alone.
The whole DoubleVerify trade now sits inside eight cents
The deal price clears both the market and the analysts' number
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Consensus target | $13.52 |
| Share price, 7 Nov | $13.55 |
| Cash deal price | $13.6 |
The last public price for ad verification
The business being levered grows by volume, not price: the fee per thousand impressions fell 4 percent over the first nine months of 2026 even as measured volume rose, held together by customer retention above 95 percent 6. Nielsen itself left public markets in 2022, bought by the same Elliott- and Brookfield-led group in a $16 billion deal 7.
At the close, DoubleVerify delists and stops filing accounts, and with its rival Integral Ad Science private since 2025, no listed company will publish what ad verification costs, the record gap this desk flagged on November 3 6. The notes that fund the buyout carry 10.5 percent 5. Watch the November 30 settlement 5, then the closing notice 3.
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