JC Flowers mulls investing in Italy again and is said to be looking to buy a small bank in order to inject new cash and make it grow and develop a new business model, MF Milano Finanza wrote, adding that a target might be Banca del Fucino, an heritage Rome-based bank founded in 1923 by the Torlonia family who is still the principal shareholder nowadays.
Founded by US billionaire Christopher Flowers, JC Flowers was an innovator as a private equity firm active in Italy as it was the first private equity firm to buy a majority stake in a financial institution and the first one to buy control of an insurance company.
On the first side, JC Flowers bought in 2007 from Credem bank a majority stake in the capital of Euromobiliare sim (today Equita sim), selling then its stake in January 2016 to Equita’s managers and top banker Alessandro Profumo (see here a previouspost by BeBeez). As for the insurance sector, JC FLowers in 2013 bought from Banco Popolare, Aviva and Finoa a controlling stake in Eurovita, which was then sold in 2017 to Phlavia Investimenti (today Eurovita), controlled by Cinven (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
JC Flowers ran in the auction for control of Banca Intermobiliare (Bim) last year, as well as Warburg, Attestor Capital and Barents Re (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The auction was then won by Attestor.
