Italy’s private equity firm Idea Capital Funds sgr signed an agreement to buy a 70% stake in La Piadineria group, a chain of restaurant-stores spread all over Italy, specializing in cooking tortillas (piadine). The final closing is expected by mid May.
The investment will be made through Idea Capital’s new fund focused on agrifood business, called Idea taste of Italy (see here a previous post by BeBeez) at its first deal. The fund has a 200 million euro target and has raised 120 millions in a first closing.
More in detail, MF-Milano Finanza newspaper wrote yesterday that the fund will buy stakes from La Piadineria’s co-founders Franco Beccaria and Antonio Milani (owning 35% each). The co-founders will reinvest in the group, buying some stakes from their third parter Donato Romano who today owns a 30% stake in the company so that at the end the three shareholders will own together a 30% stake in the group. Milan and Romano will keep on managing the company as ceos,
The deal has been structured by Idea Capital Funds sgr’ managing directors Pierluca Antolini and Gabriele Bavagnoli and will mean a 15 million euros investment for the fund.
The chain counts 85 small restaurants or kiosksin Italy of which 25 directly owned, while the remaining 70 shops are managed in franchising. On the whole the restaurants sell about 5 million tortillas per year and have revenues of about 25 millions.
The new cash will be used to open new shops in airports and railway stations..
