Covisian, a multinational company that offers advanced customer management technologies and services, controlled by the Aksìa Capital IV fund, has taken over the four subsidiaries of the Avanza group dedicated to managing customers in Spain and Colombia: Unit Contact Center, Uniglobal Insurance Mediation, Avanza Colombia and Avanza Assicurazione. Moreover, GSS has acquired the BPO business unit of Avanza, which manages transactional processes and back office activities that generate value in terms of quality of the relationship with the customer. The transaction was conducted by Covisian through its Spanish subsidiary Grupo GSS (see press release here), acquired last February (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
The deal was financed by the Equita Private Debt II fund, which subscribed a subordinated bond issued by Sparta 60, an investment vehicle that controls Covisian. This is not the first time that Equita has supported Aksìa’s buyout deals. For example, last October, Equita’s first private debt fund closed its investment phase with the signing of a bond issued to finance the acquisition of Primo dental centers and the majority of Medidental srl, the company that manages the chain of health centers under the OasiMedica brand (see here a previous article by BeBeez). Previously the same fund had financed the acquisitions of the piadina producer CRM and of the manufacturer of bottles for pharmaceutical products, medical devices and cosmetics Lameplast, always by Aksìa. Orrick law firm assisted Equita in the transaction, while Covisian was supported in the acquisition by EY, Garrigues, Accinni, Cartolano & Associati.
With this deal, Covisian’s turnover rises to over 330 million euros, with a workforce of 17 thousand workers, distributed in 6 countries: Italy, Spain, Peru, Colombia, Albania and Romania. Through the new acquired companies Covisian consolidates its commercial presence at a global level in the following sectors: financial and insurance services, telecommunications, energy. Furthermore, the acquisition of a business unit of the Avanza group dedicated to BPO adds new competencies in the management of the end customer. Finally, the acquisition of Avanza Colombia in particular means for the Group entry into the new country, which will allow Covisian to provide services to local and international customers in Spain, the United States, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Colombia.
“This transaction is part of the Covisian Group’s international expansion plan, with the aim of offering customers high quality services and solid experience in different countries around the world at the same time. In this regard Spain for us has been an excellent springboard for a large market like South America, which in turn allows us to look also at North America”, explained Antonio Turroni, Covisian ceo.” Now we will integrate the lines operational acquired with our patented systems, we will integrate the new skills acquired and will further complete the offer of innovative services for clients ”. “The acquisition of these new companies allows us to increase our service capabilities for our existing customers, as well as to generate new opportunities with new brands, always respecting the quality standards of the GSS team, strengthened with the integration in the Covisian group “, added César López Pérez, ceo of GSS.
Concurrently with the acquisition of Avanza, Marco Rayneri, a founding partner of Aksìa sgr, announced “other acquisitions, particularly internationally, and not only in the field of BPO in the strict sense”. Covisian, Italian leader in business process outsourcing services and innovative customer care solutions, is growing fast with acquisitions. The acquisition of the Avanza Group is only the last in a series. Apart from the acquisition of GSS last February, as already mentioned, Covisian, in fact, in April 2018 had also bought RBS-Retail Banking Services srl, a company specializing in customer management for financial services with offices in Rome and Milan (see here a previous article by BeBeez). In November 2017, Covisian had acquired 88% of Vivocha, an Italian company specializing in digital CRM systems, taking over from the Canadian group Enghouse and from the funds of Principia sgr and Vertis sgr, which had capitalized the startup in September 2012 (see here a previous article by BeBeez). In November 2016 Covisian had instead bought the entire capital of the debt collection company CSS spa, with CSS’s managing director, Gianni Amprino, who had reinvested in Covisian, maintaining the leadership of CSS in the role of ceo (see here a previous article by BeBeez) . Finally, in July 2016, Italiaonline sold the directory assistance business 1254 to Covisian (see here a previous article by BeBeez). Covisian also bought Telesurvey, which in turn specializes in CRM. The group was born on the initiative of Aksìa, which at the end of 2015 acquired and brought in a single holding company the Contacta and Visiant Contact companies (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
