After two acquisitions in Italy in one year to date, Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) has now announced the opening its Italian branch, which will be led by new partner Giovanni Revoltella (see here the press release).
Mr. Revoltella, 43, who has been investing for over 15 years in medium-sized companies in Italy and other European countries, in Argan Capital in London and more recently as a partner and co-head of the industrial and technological sector of Capvis in Switzerland. In 2011 he was also among the promoters of the first listed SPAC in Italy, Italy 1 Investment sa, which then led the business combination with IVS in 2012.
As senior advisor, however, Antonio Corbani will continue to support DBAG in evaluating investment opportunities in Italy. Corbani, 61, has a past at the head of the Italian activities of Abn Amro Capital, of which he then led the management buyout of the private equity portfolio in Italy, founding FA Capital, thanks to the support of Goldman Sachs.
Deutsche Beteiligungs is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, invests both directly and through a family of private equity funds. The last, the DBAG Fund VIII, had closed fundraising at the end of 2019 with committements for 1.1 billion euros, of which 255 millions invested by the listed parent company (see here a previous article by BeBeez). In the future, up to a quarter of the volume of the DBAG Fund VIII will be devoted to investments in Italy. This is an amount that would therefore be equivalent to around 300 million euros.
In Italy, however, with the support of Mr. Corbani, DBAG has already invested as said before. In fact, last August DBAG announced the acquisition of a minority stake in Itelyum, a group specialized in the management, recycling and valorisation of industrial waste, controlled by Stirling Square Capital Partners (see here a previous article by BeBeez), while in August 2020 DBAG had acquired control of PM Plastic Materials, a specialist and European leader in plastic insulating pipe systems for electrical systems, alongside the management (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
With the opening of the office in Milan, DBAG therefore aims to directly control the Italian market. The investment team of DBAG Italia srl (DBAG Italia) branch will select and structure investment opportunities for the DBAG funds, supporting the further development of the companies in the portfolio.
In particular, DBAG is interested in medium-sized, family-run companies to accompany in the internationalization of family businesses: about two-thirds of the companies currently in DBAG’s portfolio are family-run.
“Italy, with its diverse, traditional and successful industrial landscape, is an attractive market in which we are keen to contribute our 50+ years of investment experience”, said Tom Alzin, a member of DBAG’s Management Board.
And Mr. Revoltella added: “A sector focus in line with the market, many years of experience with medium-sized family businesses and a powerful network, these are good prerequisites for our strategy in Italy. As a listed company, DBAG can also make investments with a longer investment horizon than traditional private equity funds have. This broadens our range of equity solutions for Italian companies”.
(Article modified on Sept 6 2021 at 9.45 am – the link to the press release is added as well as quotes by the managers)
