Versalis, a chemical company of listed Italian energy giant Eni, acquired 40% of Finproject, an Italian compounding company, from Vei Capital (Gruppo Palladio finanziaria) (see here a previous post by BeBeez). In June 2015, Vei acquired its stake from Xenon Private equity, while the founding family Vecchiola raised its holding from 51% to 60%. Versalis started exploring options in 2019 and also considered the launch of an IPO. Euro Vecchiola founded Finproject in 1965. In 2002, the company sold its Canadian plant to US shoes producer Crocs, of which the Italian firm is a supplier of special materials. In 2017, Finproject acquired Italian assets of Solvay. Maurizio Vecchiola is the ceo of Finproject which has sales in the region of 200 million euros and an ebitda of about 35 million.
English fund Mayfair Equity Partners, an investor with focus on the TMT and consumer sectors, acquired the majority of atHome, a Luxembourg based mortgage broker and publisher of real estate adverts (ssee here a previous post by BeBeez). The management team Casa.it and UK Oakley Capital Private Equity. Oakley will keep a minority of atHome and its stake in Italian Casa.it, the online portal for the Italian real estate sector. In December 2016, Oakley acquired a controlling stake in Casa.it and in atHome, the owner of the real estate portals for France, Germany and Luxembourg. Oakley supported the management, which took a 20% stake in the business through a management buyout transaction for an enterprise value of 132.6 million euros. Sidney-listed Rea Group sold the asset. Since Oakley acquired atHome, the company’s ebitda increased by above 80%.
BeBeez is the the media partner of the Private Equity Innovation Roundtable of ALL (Association of LUISS Graduated) that will take place on 2 April, Thursday, at 8.30 AM at the LUISS Hub in Via Massimo D’Azeglio, 3, Milan. Andrea Battista (ceo of Net Insurance) is the chairman of ALL, Enrico Cantarelli (managing partner of Phinance Partners) is the vicepresident and Domenico Di Luccia (managing partner of Di Luccia & Partners Executive Search) is Milan’s head. Stefania Peveraro, the editor in chief of BeBeez, will moderate the panel that Porsche will sponsor. Write to mmarcelli@luiss.it for signing up for the event (see here a previous post by BeBeez)
On 21 February, Friday, CM.com, a Dutch B2B platform for Conversational Commerce that supplies CPaaS (Communication Platform as a Service) started trading on Euronext (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The shares hit a peak of 21 euros and closed at 17 euros. The company listed after a business combination with Dutch Star Companies ONE (DSCO), the Spac that listed on Euronext at 10 euros per share in February 2018 after having raised 55.36 million euros. Giovanni Cavallini, Attilio Arietti, Davide Milano, Enrico Arietti, and Oaklins group created DSCO after having previously launched Spac Industrial Stars of Italy 1 (merged with Lu-Ve), Industrial Stars of Italy 2 (SIT Group), and Industrial Stars of Italy 3 (Salcef). Further to the resources of DSCO, cornerstone investors poured a further 10 million in the business combination together with Teslin Participaties, which invested 15-20 million. CM.com will invest such proceeds in its organic growth, while its founders sold shares worth 7 million.
CoMo, the investment vehichle of Claudio Costamagna and Andrea Morante, is going to acquire 71.2% of Fope, a Milan-listed high-end jewellery firm, and thenn launch a tender offer fofr delisting the company (see here a previous post by BeBeez). CoMo subscribed an agreement with Ines and Umberto Cazzola, the heirs of the company’s founder Umberto Cazzola that own 59.16% of the business and with the heirs of Giulia Cazzola (12.04%). CoMo will launch a public offer for delisting FOPE at 9,25 euro per share. Diego Nardin will keep his ceo role. On 21 February, Friday, Fope’s shares went up 10.84% at 9,20 euros per share. FOPE generates abroad 82% of its 31.3 million euros turnover with an ebitda of 6.1 million.
After having purchased a controlling stake of coffee producers Neronobile and Daroma, Mandarin Capital Partners (MCP) acquired a 30% of Yespresso from the company’s founder and ceo, Filippo Di Carlo, who signed a put and call option agreement that will allow the fund to buy the whole company in two years (ssee here a previous post by BeBeez). In October 2019, MCP acquired 67% of Neronobile, a business with sales of 23 million euros and an ebitda of 4 million. MCP later acquired Daroma, the owner of Italian brands Palombini, Mexico, Giovannini, Nori, Camilloni, and Van Doren. Daroma’ s founder and ceo Giulio Santin reinvested for a minority in the company together with MCP on the ground of an enterprise value of 35 million or 7.5 X ebitda. Coffee Holding is the vehicle through which MCP grouped all its investments in the sector and of which Carlo Luigi Salvadori, a seasoned manager of coffee companies, is a board member. Yespresso has sales of 26.7 million and an ebitda of 3.5 million.
Knowlton Development Corporation, a company that since December 2018 belongs to US Cornell Capital, Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, Investissement Québec, and HarbourVest Partners acquired Italian producer of insecticides Zobele from UK fund DH Private Equity Partners (fka Doughty Hanson) (see here a previous post by BeBeez). DH acquired 75.6% of Zobele from the eponymous family in 2006 (find out here how to subscribe to BeBeez News Premium for just 20 euros per month and read the BeBeez Reports and Insight Views). Previous press reports said that the company attracted the interest of Centerbridge Partners cthat could integrate Zobele with its US portfolio asset Kik Custom Products. DH Private Equity Partners started the sale procedure for Zobele in November 2019 as part of the disposal of all the portfolio companies that became necessary after the death of DH founder Nigel Doughty in 2012. The fund still owns Asco, a Scottish logistic company, and Kp1, a producer of prefabricated concrete units. Zobele was born in 1919 and in early 2013 it issued a bond of 180 million for refinancing the 2006 liabilities that supported the buyout of Doughty Hanson. This Luxembourg-listed bond was due to mature in February 2018 with a 7.875% coupon. In February 2017, Zobele repaid in advance the bond with the proceeds of a syndicated loan of 210 million that received from Interbanca, Hsbc, Natixis, and Unicredit.
Sia, the Italian IT infrastructure provider to financial services companies of which Cdp Equity owns a controlling stake, could list with a 4 billion euros market capitalization after having raised 1-1.5 billion through a capital increase in ipo (see here a previous post by BeBeez). An eventual merger with Milan-listed paytech Nexi is still on the table as it could create a firm with an enterprise value in the region of 3-3.5 billion and a market share of 70% (45% Nexi, 25% Sia), said Goldman Sachs at the end of January 2020. Nexi could have a majority role and pay with shares and debt. Sia is a company monitored by BeBeez Private Data (find out how to subscribe for only 110 euros a month)
Egosistema, an Italian gyms chain, hired Ethica Corporate Finance for finding a partner that could provide the support for acquiring the competitor Orange (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The dossier is on the table of Alcedo and Wise Equity. Egosistema’s ceo is Francesco Iezzoni. In 2016 acquired the competitor Health City Italia and has sales of 30 million euros.
Bologna Court said that Seci, the holding through which the Maccaferri Family controls the eponymous group, could go bankrupt (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The Courts set a meeting with the company and its creditors on 3 April for ascertain the grounds for bankruptcy. The Court previously deferred from early to mid-February a meeting for the appraisal the turnaround plans of Seci and its subsidiary Samp, but later it ascertained that the companies are not solvent as their equity was worth minus 130 million at the end of 3Q19 (minus 65 million at the end of 4Q18). The company’s assets are worth 391.5 million, but 197 million of them are credits with subsidiaries. After such a decision, the company’s managers cannot outline a turnaround plan by 28 February 2020. The eventual bankruptcy of Seci would draw down its subsidiaries. Officine Maccaferri recently signed a forbearance agreement with the investors in its Milan-listed 190 million bond that pays is due to mature in 2021 and pays a 5.75% coupon. Carlyle acquired this liability with other investors in December 2019. At the end of January 2020, Carlyle purposed Maccaferri to write-off its current debt (except banking liabilities) and to pour fresh resources in Officine Maccaferri and Seci. Maccaferri reportedly attracted the interest of Oxy Capital and Hps, Fortress Investment Group, and of Quattro R. Press reports said that Bonfiglioli Riduttori, an Italian producer of industrial components, tabled a bit for Sampingranaggi, a subsidiary of Samp that is in receivership from late 2019.
Italian dental surgery chain Primo Group, an asset of Aksìa, will merge with competitor CareDent, a portfolio company of L Catterton (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Primo Group subscribed a compulsory convertible bond of Caredent. The merger will take place on the achievement of targets for 2020. CareDent has 65 clinics (14 of them in franchising). The company was born in Spain in 2004 and it started its Italian operations in 2009 under the leadership of Christian La Monaca and of Chicco Reggiani. L Catterton acquired a 72% stake in 2016. CareDent also acquired Dental Planet (6 clinics) in 2017 and SmileClin (4 clinics) in 2018. In October 2019, Aksìa acquired Primo Group, whose ceo is Mirko Puccio, from ArchiMed. Equita Private Debt Fund invested one million for a minority of the asset and financed the transaction through the subscription of subordinated bond of 7 million euros with a coupon of 8%. In 2019, Primo Group acquired the majority of Medidental from the founder Claudio Semperboni, who kept his operative role and a minority of the business. Banca Ifis financed the buyers with a senior loan.
Italian health&life care Spac Life Care Capital (LCC) aims to carry on a business combination with biotech firm Biogenera (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Meta Ventures, Italian Angels for Growth (IAG), the Emilia-RomagnaRegion, and founders Andrea Pession and Roberto Tonelli own about 85% of Biogenera and signed a frame agreement with LCC for a merger. Carlo Castellano, Alessandra Gavirati, Luigi Sala, Jody Vender, and Techwald launched LCC in March 2018 after having raised 140 million euros. Andrea Pession (a full Professor of Pediatrics at Bologna University) and Roberto Tonelli, a pharmacology researcher at Bologna University, founded Biogenera, which developed MyGenera, a platform for identifying potential medicines for undruggable targets. The company raised 0.381 million euros through an equity crowdfunding campaing in 2017 on 200Crowd. In 2018, Biogenera launched a campaign on BackToWork and raised more than 0.715 million, with a 615% overfunding ahead of the 0.1 million target set on the ground of a pre-money value of 7.32 million. LCC could buy 32.5% of Biogenera from Pession and Tonelliand (5%), from Meta Ventures (22.5%) and other shareholders. LCC will pay 16.2 million to Meta Ventures and the company’s founders at 34.43 euros per share. For this merger, the equity value of Biogenera is of 70 million, while LCC’s is of 139 million. Once completed the business combination, the publicly traded equity of the company will be of 66.1% – 68.5%. Biogenera has a turnover of 0.389 million with losses of 0.41 million. LCC will appoint six board members including Alessandra Gavirati (chairman), Luigi Colombo (Chief Operating Officer), and Alessandro Piga. The founders will sign a 36 months lock-up agreement and appoint Pession (Vice President, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Officer) and Stefano Biondi as board member. The company will also have an independents board member. Meta Ventures will lock-up for 24 months.
Italian toys distributor Giochi Preziosi could list in late April or early May 2020 (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The company’s public equity could be of 48% after the sale of shares and the launch of a capital increase. Giochi Preziosi has sales of about 500 million euros and an ebitda of 63 million. The company’s turnover is seasonally biased as 60% of sales take place between October and December. Earlier in February, Centurion Global Sicav reportedly acquired 2.1% of Giochi Preziosi on behalf of the Vatican City. Centurion has 70 million of euros of assets under management and belongs to Lucio Barresi and Enzo Filippini. Centurion paid 13 milioni for the asset on the ground of the target’s enterprise value of 619 million. Giochi Preziosi may list by the end of 2020. The company called off the announced IPO plans for 2019 as it was negotiating the acquisition of Spain’s Famosa Toys and Italian Trudi
Ansaldo Energia, a company that belongs to Cdp Equity and Shanghai Electric, is working on the launch of a 300 million euros capital increase for paying the remaining 260 million bond due to mature at the end of April 2020 (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Ansaldo aims to review its debt structure and make disposals for 150 million. The company could sell its US subsidiary Psm to Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s sovereigns fund. The company issued a 420 million bond in 2015 with maturity on 28 aprile 2020 and a 2.875% coupon. In May 2017, Ansaldo issued a 350 million bond with maturity in May 2024 and a coupon of 2.75% and carried on a 159.15 million buy back (out of un up to 250 million offer). The company pointed out that it will not change the current outstanding bonds. In April 2019, Ansaldo Energia agreed with its leanders that (i) it will no longer have to double-check the “leverage ratio” covenant (i.e. net financial debt to adjusted ebitda) for 2018 revenues; (ii) it will increase the leverage ratio in 2019 and 2020 to up to 5x and 4.8x from current 4x; and (iii) it will reduce to 3.5X the interest cover ratio (i.e. adjusted ebitda to net borrowing interest expenses) for 1H19 from current 4X. Ansaldo Energia has sales of 1.17 billion, an ebitda of 151.17 million, a loss of 232 million and a net financial debt of 930.5 million. In 2014, Shanghai Electric acquired 40% of Ansaldo Energia from Cdp Equity. The managers own 0.1% of the business. Leonardo sold 40% of Ansaldo Energia in 2013 and signed a put option agreement with Cdp Equity for selling its remaining 15% by the end of 2017. In 2013, Cdp Equity acquired 44.5% of Ansaldo Energia from First Reserve on the ground of an enterprise value of one billion and an equity value of 657 million.
Ausilia (the holding of Marco and Leonardo Bassilichi), Value Italy, BPER, Banca Montepaschi, Sici Fondo Toscana Venture and Nexi, sold Fruendo, a provider of services in outsourcing to banks, to Italian consultancy firm Accenture (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Fruendo is a joint venture that Bassilichi (60%) and Accenture (40%) signed in December 2013 for acquiring the back office activities of Banca Mps. In December 2016, Nexi (fka ICBPI) acquired Bassilichi, a provider of business process outsourcing services. However, Fruendo was not part of this transaction and belonged to Ausilia, Abs Technology, and Krene. Nexi acquired 10% of Ausilia. Fruendo has sales of 76.95 million euros, an ebitda of 6.3 million, and net cash of 46 million.
Milan-listed Atlantia could sell a controlling stake in ASPI (Autostrade per l’Italia), of which it owns 88%, to F2i (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Atlantia will carry on such a sale if it faced a revocation for the concession for motorways management from the Italian Government. Italian infrastructure investor F2I, upon the agreement of its investors, may create an Aspi Fund open to other investors and of which Atlantia could be a limited partner. Previous press reports said that Vito Gamberale, the former ceo of F2i and of ASPI, is about to launch two infrastructure funds in partnership with Pramerica, the asset management firm of Gruppo UBI Banca (65%) and of Pramerica Financial (35%), part of Prudential Financial. Earlier in January, Banca d’Italia authorised Pramerica Iter to start to fundraise through the launch of an Eltif. The fundraising target of the two funds is of 700 million euros. Iter Capital Partners, the company that Gamberale (chairman) and Mauro Maia (ceo) founded, is the exclusive advisor for the funds that may hold talks for acquiring ASPI. Salvatore Rossi, the former coo of Banca d’Italia, will be the fund’s CIO. Pramerica Iter will invest in infrastructures and silver economy assets based in Italy and Southern Europe with an ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) approach.
Ambienta acquired 1st Vision, an US distributor of machine vision systems and other imaging products, from the target’s founders (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The fund appointed Mike Troiano as ceo of the company. Ambienta previously launched Lakesight Technologies, a buy-and-build vehichle for the production of components for the machine vision sector that allowed investors to gain 10 times the equity. Next Imaging, the platform through which Ambienta acquired Image S in 2018, will incorporate 1st Vision. Fabrizio Ricchetti is the ceo of Next Imaging. Ambienta is one of the private capital investors that BeBeez Private Data monitors. Find out here how to subscribe for the Combo version that includes BeBeez News Premium.
Milan-listed NB Aurora, an investment subsidiary of Neuberger Berman, will pay a 19 million euros amount of dividends (after 18.9 millions in 2019) or 1.06 euros per share (see here a previous post by BeBeez). For 2019, the company posted net profits of one million. The nine companies of NB Aurora’s portfolio generate an aggregate turnover in the region of one billion with an ebitda of 90 million, and net debts of 1.7x ebitda. NB Aurora owns stakes or the whole of Club del Sole, Dierre Group, PHSE, Ligabue,Sira, Amut, DBA Group, Elco, Zeis Excelsa. NB Aurora reportedly aims to complete in 1H20 an up to 150 million capital increase for carruing on further acquisitions. Furthermore, NB Aurora is also interestested in signing partnerships with asset managers that aims to launch Eltifs
Fiscatech, an Italian provider of chemical fabrics, acquired Sisa, who has among these clients the brands Stella McCartney and Will’s, from Akea (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Akea has sales in the region of 10 million euros. Alessandro Morini is the chairman of Fiscatech, which has sales of 22 million (+10% yoy), is part of Gruppo Pellan, a company whose founder and chairman are Achille Costamagna and Carlotta Pignatti Costamagna. Cerere81, Galdabini, and BeDimensional belong to Pellan.
Samsic, a provider of B2B services, acquired Infor Group, an Italian recruiting agency (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Infor Group has sales of 44 million euros and its general manager Sergio De Pasquale will keep his role as well as arelevant stake in the business. Samsic has sales of 2.5 billion and is based in France.
Germany’s listed Investment holding Mutares acquired 80% of Italian logistic company Nexive from Dutch-listed PostNL, which will keep 20% of the target (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The parties should close the transaction in 2Q20. Nexive (fka TNT Post) has sales of 175.2 million euros, an ebitda of 6 million, and net cash of 0.137 million. At the beginning of February Mutares, through the subsidiary Balcke-Duerr, a company that creates solutions for energy efficiency and the reduction of emissions for utilities and the chemical industry, took over Loterios, an Italian company that designs and produces pressure equipment in materials special, in particular titanium, for various industrial sectors (see here a previous article by BeBeez).While in December 2019, it acquired the Italian subsidiary of the German group Tekfor active in the production of high performance components for the automotive and low weight sector and in the search for innovative products for the future (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
Sergio Folli, the ceo of Airpack and of Poligof, led a club deal for acquiring country club La Pergola, based in Lombardy, from Somkid Immobiliare, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank (see here a previous post by BeBeez). La Pergola previously held talks with investors that Luigi Barbati was heading. The owner of the company Giovanni Samarati didn’t pay taxes and pension contributions between 2013 and 2016 and in June 2018 Somkid Immobiliare acquired La Pergola through an auction for 2.65 million euros.
UBS Wealth Management launched Elite UBS Lounge through a partnership between UBS and Elite, the international platform of the London Stock Exchange Group for supporting SMEs (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Paolo Federici and Rosario Sciacca are the Market Head and Region Head Branches of of UBS Global Wealth Management in Italy. Marta Testi is the Head of Elite Italy. The companies that are part of Elite posted a median growth of 52% for their sales, +31% for the ebitda margin and +64% of workforce.
Clessidra is holding talks for acquiring Italian wine producer Casa Vinicola Botter (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Carlo Botter founded the company in 1928. Third-generation family members Annalisa, Alessandro, and Luca Botter, own the companny together with IdeA Taste of Italy (22.5%). Casa Vinicola Botter had sales of 198 million euros in 2018, an ebitda of 27 milliond, and net cash of 12 millions.
Engineering Ingegneria Informatica, the IT company of Bain Capital, acquired the majority of FDL Servizi from the founder Fausto Romelli who will keep his ceo role (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Engineering has sales of 1.18 billion euros (+15% yoy), an adjusted ebitda of 147.2 million (122.9 million or +19.8%), net profits of 57.7 million (52.3 million or +10%), and net financial debts of 69 million (138 million). FDL Servizi has sales of 1.25 million and an ebitda of 0.546 million
Banca Imi, Crèdit Agricole, Ing, and Sociètè Gènèrale provided a financing of 110 million euros to EF Solare Italia, a portfolio company of F2i (see here a previous post by BeBeez). EF Solare will invest such resources in the acquisition of Spain’s Renovalia Energy Group from Cerberus Capital Management on the ground of an enterprise value of 700 million euros. At the end of December 2019, EF Solare Italia refinanced a portfolio of photovoltaic assets with a power of 118 MW with a 320 million financing. Banca Imi, Banco Bpm, Bnp Paribas, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Crédit Agricole, and Société Générale acted as lenders.
