Chinese Nuo Capital fund acquired 30% of Ludovico Martelli srl, the maker of Proraso shaving cosmetics (see the press release here).
The Martelli family sold the stake for about 50 million euros. The transaction will take place part through a share purchase and part through a capital increase. The price reflects a valuation of the company of 150 million euros, as estimated at the beginning of June, when Ludovico Martelli commissioned the Gca Altium advisor to look for new members (see here previous post by BeBeez).
The interest of the Chinese fund to take over a minority of the company was leaked last August (see here previous post by BeBeez). Gatti Pavesi Bianchi assisted the Ludovico Martelli group, while the fund was followed by Chiomenti.
Ludovico Martelli srl, founded in 1908 in Florence, today it is based in Fiesole and has 105 employees. The company is chaired by Ludovico Martelli and led by ceo Giovanni Galeotti, who holds the remaining 10% of the capital. The company owns the brands Proraso, Marvis, Kaloderma, Oxy and Schultz. In 2018 the company achieved a turnover of 55 million, an ebitda of 10 millions, a profit of 9.6 million and a net liquidity of 6.9 millions (see the Leanus analysis, once registered for free).
Nuo Capital, an investment holding company founded in 2016 by World-Wide Investment Company Limited, one of the oldest Asian family offices, refers to the Pao Cheng family. Nuo Capital is led by Tommaso Paoli, former manager of Intesa Sanpaolo. To date, Nuo Capital has completed eight investments in the wine, clothing, design and innovative digital companies.
In particular, the first investment was in the capital of Terra Moretti alongside the Moretti family and Simest, following the acquisition in November 2016 of the Winery Tenute Sella & Mosca spa together with 100% of Teruzzi & Puthod, sold by Campari (see here previous post by BeBeez). In July 2017 Nuo Capital then bought 10% of Elite spa, the company until then was 100% controlled by Borsa Italiana and developed the platform of the same name to support growth and raise capital in SMEs. high potential. That operation was conducted in tandem with CDP, which in turn bought 15% of Elite (see here previous post by BeBeez). In April 2018 Nuo Capital had bought a minority stake in Sozzi Arredamenti, a company based in Valmadrera (Lecco) specializing in the luxury design sector (see here previous post by BeBeez); again in April 2018 he had participated in the 2.5 million euro financing round of the e-commerce platform dedicated to Italian wine Tannico (see here previous post by BeBeez) and participated in the same month in the 4 million euro round of Artemest, an Italian e-commerce platform dedicated to luxury design craft products (see here previous post by BeBeez). In October 2018 he had instead invested in Slowear. Lastly, last July the fund entered with StarTIP and H14 in the capital of Bending Spoons, the first developer of iOS apps in Europe (see here previous post by BeBeez).
