Asset Italia 1 srl, an investment veichle sponsored by Milan-listed Tamburi Investment Partners together with 30 Italian family offices, will buy Italian leading tour operator Alpitour‘s shareholding stakes from funds managed by Wise sgr e J.Hirsch&Co (see here the two funds’ press release and quTamburi’s press release).
The two funds held together a 38.8% stake in ALpitour’s capital through Wish spa and Azurline sarl. On the basis of Alpitour’s equity value of 470 million euros, the deal states that all Wish capital and the Alpitour’s stake in Azurline will be bought by newco Alpiholding srl, which is owned by Asset Italia (49.9%), by Alpitour’s chairman and ceo Gabriele Burgio (0.2%) and by other investors (49.9%). Both Asset Italia and Mr. Burgio were already shareholders of Alpitoru, respetively with a 32.7% and a 3.9% stake.
Tourin-based entrepreneur Mr.Levi, an historic shareholder in Alpitour, will remain in Alpitour’s capital, as well as Fabio Landini, a former shareholder in Presstour. Wise sgr will in turn reinvest directly in Alpitour with a 3.5% stake, while ILP III Sicar, managed by J.Hirsch&Co will completely divest from the company. Wise and ILP III have been supported by Molinari e Associati law firm for the deal.
Tamburi’s project to raise its stake in Alpitour from its previous 32.7% acquired in March 2017 (see here a previous post by BeBeez) was well known on the market. However Tamburi was not alone in examining the dossier. Interest also came from Chinese conglomerate Fosun, the major shareholder of Club Med, and from several industrial players such as Barcelò and Wamos (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
J.Hirsch and Wise sponsored a management buy-out in Alpitour in 2012. Alpitour was then sold by Exor, an holding of the Agnelli-Elkann family, for 225 million euros price, when the company was in a difficult financial situation. Mr. Burgio from then on was able to make a succesful turnaround of the business and many industrial players started to circle the company. In June 2015 Fosun was said to be in talks to by Alpitour (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
Alpitour reached 1.2 billion euros in revenues in 2017 (from 1.1 billions in 2016), with 46 millions of ebitda (from 36 millions, see here an anlysis by Leanus, after free registration an login) and after having closed the acquisition of Eden Viaggi announced last April, the group will reach 1.6 billion euros in revenues, targeting 2 billions in 2019 thanks to strategic synergies.
