Italian theme park Gardaland started the construction of Legoland Water Park, an area with a focus on the iconic brick toys (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Aldo Maria Vigevani, the ceo of Gardaland, said that this investment is worth 20 million euros and the construction will end by June 2020. Gardaland belongs to London listed theme park operator Merlin Group who attracted a public offer from KIRKBI (the investment holding of the Kristiansen Family that owns 75% of Lego), Blackstone and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). Bidders are willing to acquire Merlin Group on the ground of an enterprise value of 5.905 billion pounds, or 12x the company’s ebitda that in 2018 has been of 494 million. Merlin revenues are of 1.65 billion, while net financial debt stands at 2.4x ebitda. Gardaland has sales of 128 million euros.
Fabio Sattin and Giovanni Campolo celebrated thirty years of activity of Private Equity Partners, the firm they founded in September 1989 (see here a previous post by BeBeez). In 30 years of activity, the Private Equity Partners team made 46 investments, and 24 of them generated an annual Irr of over 20%.
European PE Breakdown, a report of PitchBook and ACG, said that the European private equity sector is going through a repricing trend as the median value of the EV/ebitda ratio is of 10.3x for the last four quarters from 11.6xat the end of December 2018 and 11.5x at the end of March 2019 (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The leverage or debt\ebitda ratio lowered from 6s to 5.4x between 1H19 and 2H19, while the equity/ebitda ratio went down 4.9x from 5.5x. The report says that this repricing trend is due to an increase of bolt-on buys for portfolio companies. However, the price of the assets may still be in the region of 10xas there is not yet an unbalance of supply and demand of targets and private equity funds have still relevant dry powder resources.
Italian fans producer Vortice acquired Spain’s competitor Ventilaciòn Industrial Ind. SL, the owner of the brand Casals (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Andrea Sacha Togni, the chairman of Vortice, said that after this transaction the company would generate a turnover of above 100 million euros.
Alessandro Borghi is the new chief investment officer of Borio Mangiarotti, the construction company of which Värde Partners owns 20% (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Borio Mangiarotti has a turnover of 58 million euros, an ebitda of 5.5 million, and a net debt of 40.3 million.
DC Advisory, the global m&a advisory network of Japanese Daiwa Securities, opened DC Advisory Italy, its Milan bureau and appointed Alberto Vigo as ceo (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Yuichi Akai, Senior Executive Managing Director and Head of Global Investment Banking of Daiwa Securities, said that the Italian economy offers great opportunities for mid-market M&A.
Lumson, a packaging company that is part of the portfolio of FSI Mid-Market Growth Equity Fund, acquired Italian competitor Marino Belotti from Maria Teresa Belotti and Alfredo Gavazzeni that will reinvest in the company part of their proceeds and keep their board members role (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Marino Belotti has sales of 16.2 million euros, an ebitda of 2.66 million, and net cash of 2.65 million. In August 2018, FSI acquired a 35% of Lumson who has sales of 94.4 million euros, an ebitda of 17.3 million and a net financial debt of 6.1 million.
The investors in Industrial Stars of Italy 3 (Indstars 3), the Milan listed Spac that Giovanni Cavallini, Attilio Arietti, Davide Milano, and Enrico Arietti launched, will see just with a razor-thin outcome the business combination with Salcef Group, an Italian railway systems and technology company (see here a previous post by BeBeez) as the company major shareholder, the  Salciccia family, will buy shares of the Spac’s shareholders who decided to exercise their withdraw rights till the necessary legal number in order to make the deal to succed.
Swiss listed private banking firm Julius Baer called off the sale of its Italian asset management firm Kairos (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Kairos has assets under management for 9.3 billion euros and paid a 43.9 million dividend to Julius Baer.
Ferretti, the Italian luxury yachts producer, aims to list 35% – 40% of its equity on Milan market by October (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Ferretti enterprise value is in the region of 750 million euros or 14X the ebitda of 2018. Ferretti is one of the companies that BeBeez Private Data monitors. Find out here how to subscribe
Oakley Capital acquired 40% of Alessi, an iconic brand for design house accessories which is facing difficult times (see here a previous post by BeBeez). British Oakley paid 6 million British Pounds for a capital increase and subscribed an agreement for renegotiating the company’s maturities and liabilities. Alessi’s main lenders are Banco BPM, Intesa Sanpaolo, Mediocredito Italiano, and Unicredit. The Alessi Family will keep 60% of the business which has sales of 62.5 million euros, an ebitda of 0.130 million, and net financial debt of 11.2 million.
Exergy, the renewable energy subsidiary of the diversified industrial company Gruppo Maccaferri, is for sale after the Bologna Court accepted the company’s application  for receivership (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The auction will have a first stage for the whole company and its Turkish subsidiary Exergy Turkey on the ground of an asking price of 16 million euros that may reduce by up to 3 million. A second auction could take place only if interested parties don’t table valid bids during the first round. Exergy has sales of 23.4 million euros, an ebitda of minus 0.6 million, and net financial debt of 28.7 million.
Nexi Payments, a subsidiary of Gruppo Nexi, sold the majority of Moneynet to IVS Group, a Milan-listed vending machines (see here a previous post by BeBeez). IVS has sales of 434.4 million euros, an adjusted ebitda of 93.4 million and a net financial debt of 285.5 million.
Cesenate Conserve Alimentari raised to 51% its 39% interest in Alce Nero, an Italian distributor of fair trade and organic food  (See here a previous post by BeBeez). Conapi (the Italian Consortium of beekeepers) sold a 12% stake in Alce Nero which has sales of 75.6 million euros, an ebitda of 1.9 million, and net profits of 1 million.
Engineering, the Italian It company that belongs to NB Renaissance and Apax Partners, acquired a controlling stake in Deus Technology (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The transaction value is of 30-40 million euros and the target company will keep in charge its founders Paolo Galli (ceo), Pasquale Orlando (cmo) and the management. Deus Technology has sales of 5.4 million, and an ebitda of 1.28 million
