As BeBeez suggested some months ago (see here a previous article by BeBeez), after the delisting last February Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group is mulling the support of private equity funds to sell them a 30% stake of the capital or the same stake that use to be floating capital in order to be accompanied in its development plan at an international level, NordEst Economia writes.
The company’s advisor in the operation is said to be BNP Paribas, while the names of the potentially interested funds include those of Carlyle, Advent, Bain Capital, Oaktree and Blackstone. All private equity firms whose managed funds, however, usually buy a majority of the target companies.
The Zanetti family controls now the group through M. Zanetti Industries, a Luxembourg company 70% owned by Massimo Zanetti and held for the remaining 30% stake by Laura and Matteo Zanetti, Massimo’s children, owners of a 15% equal stake.
We recall the group, which includes a multiplicity of well-known international brands, including Segafredo coffee, was delisted last February following the takeover bid launched in Autumn 2020 by Mr. Massimo Zanetti himself, through the MZ Holding vehicle, on the outstanding shares not in its possession and which ended in December with subscriptions that led MZ Holding to control over 94% of the group’s capital (see the press release here). Subsequently, MZ Holding then purchased other shares on the market which increased the year to over 95% (see the press release here), triggering the procedure for fulfilling the obligation to purchase the remaining shares, which was completed last 8 February (see the press release here).
The price of the takeover bid was initially set at 5 euros per share and then raised to 5.5 euros, for a total countervalue of the takeover bid of approximately 52 million euros, but in any case the price remained less than half that of the May 2015’s ipo (see here a previous article by BeBeez), which was 11.60 euros per share. At the time, the group was attributed an equity value of approximately 325 million euros, based on 2014 revenues of 781.5 million euros, an ebitda of 64.6 millions and a net financial debt of 243.3 millions. All for a valuation of 9.5x the group ebitda.
The valuation for the group today should be much higher, given that the current year is said to close with a turnover of around 1.2 billion euros, almost 50% more than in 2020. Last year in fact, the group closed with only 809.2 million euros of consolidated revenues (from 914.5 millions in 2019), an ebitda of 39.7 millions (from 84.1 millions) and a net loss of 31.9 millions (from a net profit of 15.2 millions), versus a net financial debt of 248 millions (from 208.1 millions) (see the Leanus report here, after registering for free).
During the year Massimo Zanetti made a series of new coffee shop openings around the world (see various press releases here) and last April acquired Hoja Verde Gourmet Hovgo, based in Ecuador, whose production plant, located in in Cayambe, 70 kilometers from Quito, produces coffee and chocolate starting from selected raw materials of the highest quality, guaranteeing control of the entire supply chain (see the press release here).
As stated in the Offering Document, “the bidder believes that the listing on the MTA of Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group did not allow the MZBG Group to be adequately valued. The bidder therefore considers it necessary to proceed with a reorganization of the issuer, aimed at further strengthening the group itself, an operation more easily prosecuted in the unlisted status. The bidder intends to continue to support the growth of the issuer, pursuing future strategies aimed at strengthening the competitive positioning of the MZBG Group, in order to be able to seize any future development and growth opportunities in Italy and abroad, as well as a strategic direction aimed at to the enhancement of the business in the medium-long term”.
For this reason, BeBeez had then advanced the hypothesis that the entrepreneur could seek support on the private equity side in order to follow this path. The world of funds has recently shown that it is particularly interested in the sector.
The latest coffee operation was conducted last February by the Taste of Italy 2 fund on Cellini (see here a previous article by BeBeez), while last year Rhone Capital acquired 20% of Illy Caffè, the operating company dedicated to coffee of the Illy group (see here a previous article by BeBeez) and Mandarin Capital first bought Daroma coffee (see here a previous article by BeBeez) and then 30% of Yespresso, specialized in the online marketing of coffee capsules (see here a previous article by BeBeez). Both the latter deals were conducted by Mandarin with its platform dedicated to the Coffee Holding sector, which had already controlled Neronobile coffee since 2019, when it had taken over it from EOS Private Equity (see here a previous article by BeBeez). In 2018, however, Italmobiliare bought 60% of Caffé Borbone (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
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