Italy’s leading group in mums and babies products sector Artsana signed an agreement to buy from Italy’s leading toys producer Giochi Preziosi its 50% stake in Prénatal Retail Group joint venture, so that Artsana will control 100% of the joint venture (see here a previous post byBeBeez).
Artsana has been controlled by Investindustrial private equity firm with a 60% stake since April 2016 (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Previously in 2015 Artsana had created the jv together with Giochi Preziosi merging the retail business of the two companies or of 551 shops all over Europe with the brands Toys Center, King Jouet, Prénatal and Bimbostore.
More in detail, the deal consists in a 105 million euros price that Artsana will pay to Giochi Preziosi: 97 million euros for the 50% stake in the jv plus 8 million euros as a reward of the figure that Giochi Preziosi paid last March as part of a 16 million euros capital increase in the jv.
Advisors for the deal to Artsana were Intesa Sanpaolo and studio Lombardi Segni Associati, while Giochi Preziosi was supported by da Unicredit and studio Gattai, Minoli, Agostinelli.
Enrico Preziosi is then cashing in the cash he needs to liquidate its Chines partner Ocean Gold Global, who today owns a 49% stake in Giochi Preziosi at a price that had been fixed when the Chinese partner entered in the company’s capital. The payment had to be done by the end of last June (see ahere a previous post by BeBeez).
Mr. Preziosi is now already looking for a new partner to sell him a minority stake in Giochi Preziosi and maybe allow him to raise the stake to a controlling one in three years’ time, MF Milano Finanza writes today.
