A competitive auction for control of the Treviso-based bakery company Forno d’Asolo is starting next week with expressions of interest that are expected to be presented by potential investors to financial advisors Mediobanca and Rothschild by June 4th, il Corriere della Sera wrote.
Forno d’Asolo as been controlled by private equity firm 21 Investimenti (56%) and its coinvestors NEIP III, managed by  Finint sgr, and by Quadrivio fund, today managed by Green Arrow Capital sgr, sin Febraury 2014 when the private equity funds joined the founding family Gallina in the company (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
Among potential investors are said to be UK private equity firm Charterhouse, which already owns control of parmesan cheese maker Nuova Castelli (see here a previous post BeBeez) and ice cream and pastries ingredients maker Optima-Mec3 (see here a previous post by BeBeez) in Italy, but also Triton Partners, BC Partners, Hig Capital and Towerbrook Capital. Moreover the deal is also on the desks of both Idea Taste of Italy, a fund focused on investments in the agro-food sector managed by Dea Capital Alternativa Funds sgr (see here a video recording of a Caffé di BeBeez on the agro-food sector) and of French private equity firm Cerea Capital, which made its first Italian investment just some months ago buying control of bakery firm Monviso spa (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
The dossier is also said to be of interest of some industrial groups such as Spanish Europastry, French Delifrance and Belgian Vandemoortele.
Forno d’Asolo reached over than 100 million euros in revenues in 2017 with about 20 millions in ebitda, after 14,5 millions in 2016 when revenues were 87.5 millions, and now group is expected to post a 24-25 million euros ebitda in 2018. This is why some people on the market say Forno D’Asolo might reach an enterprise value of about 300 million euros.
