Zonin 1821, the iconic Italian wine maker based Gambellara, close to Vicenza in the Veneto Region, is looking for a financial investor who might support the company in the generational change and in the international growth, after entrepreneur Gianni Zonin, former chairman of defaulted Banca Popolare di Vicenza, left the company as the prosecutor’s office called for a court’s intervention last autumn (along with the bank’s former top management), il  Corriere Economia wrote.
More in detail, the company is looking for an investor to subscribe a reserved capital increase for a significant minority in Zonin’s capital and an advisory mandate has been given to Mediobanca for this specific task.
Italian and international private equity funds are looking at the dossier, including food&beverage skilled funds such as  Idea Taste of Italy managed by Dea Capital Alternative Funds sgr,  21 Investimenti and French Unigrains.
About two years ago Gianni Zonin donated to his three sons Domenico, Francesco and Michele a 26.9% of ordinary shares and usufruct rights on another 23% stake in the capital of Gianni Zonin Vineyard sas owned by Giovanni Zonin & C. and 38.5% stake of the capital of Zonin Giovanni sas, the parent holding of the group.
The Zonin group is said to have an enterprise value of about 400-500 million euros after closing FY 2017 with 201 million euros in revenues at the fourth place in the sector ranking in Italy by turnover drawn up by Mediobanca, after Cantine Riunite (594 million euros), Caviro (315 millions) e Antinori (221 millions).
