Bain Capital is said to be Bain Capital in the final stages of negotiations to acquire control of Engineering, the group specializing in software development and technology for public and private companies, controlled by funds managed by the Apax and NB Renaissance funds, who delisted Engineering from the Italiann Stock Exchange in Summer 2016 (see here a previous article by BeBeez). Reuters reported the news a few days ago, stating that, as expected, NB Renaissance Partners is expected to remain in the capital as well as the founder Michele Cinaglia, while Apax Partners will divest (see here a previous article by BeBeez). According to Il Sole 24 Ore, advisors Banca Imi and Bnp Paribas, who will also be lenders, are working on the final details of the deal.
Reuters had released the rumor of the opening of the auction for the company last March, when the transaction was still in a very early phase, so much so that the advisors had not yet been appointed (see here a previous article by BeBeez). The transaction was then suspended to solve some problems, first and foremost the company’s financial leverage. Last November the auction had just reopened (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
To date Engineering is 88% owned jointly by the NB Renaissance and Apax funds; about 12% (with a 6% voting right) is owned by the founder Michele Cinaglia. At the time of the takeover bid in 2016, the group had been paid by the funds 846.5 million euros, of which 533.85 million paid with own resources and the rest with recourse to medium-long term credit lines
Engineering is valued at over 1.5 billion euros, equal to 9x FY 2018 ebitda. An assessment easily explained by the numbers. In 2018 the group reached a production value of 1.18 billion euro, + 15% from a billion euro share reached at the end of 2017, when it had already grown by over 10%. Adjusted ebitda reached 147.2 million from 122.9 million in 2017 (+ 19.8%), when it had already grown by 13.5%, and net profit was 57.7 million (+ 10% from 52.3 million the year before, when it had grown by 15.3%). All with a net financial debt down to 69 million from the previous 138 million (see here a previous article by BeBeez). Engineering in September 2019 took over 100% of the Italian fintech Deus Technology (see here a previous article by BeBeez) and in October 2019 took over 80% of the Digitelematica srl software house (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
