Carlyle and Investindustrial hired Lazard for the sale of Design Holding, the owner of B&B Italia (furniture), Flos and Louis Poulsen (lighting) and YDesign (e-commerce) (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Design may also list. Investindustrial and Carlyle founded the company at the end of 2018. B&B Italia, Flos, and Louis Poulsen belonged to Investindustrial, while Carlyle poured resources for making acquisitions. In May 2021, Design Holding acquired US-based YDesign Group LLC and signed the joint venture Fashion Furniture Design (FF Design) with Italian fashion brand Fendi. Design Holding has sales of 520.6 million euros, an ebitda of 128.9 million, net profits of 20 million, and net financial debt of 605.5 million. At the end of 2022, the company expects to generate sales of 850 million and an ebitda of 200 million.
Engineering Ingegneria Informatica, an Italian IT company that belongs to Bain Capital, NB Renaissance and NB Aurora, paid more than 200 million euros for a 43.2% of Milan-listed Be Shaping the Future (BSF), a provider of digital transition services (See here a previous post by BeBeez). Engineering will launch a public offer for delisting BSF after acquiring the stakes of Tamburi Investment Partners (TIP, who fetched 133 million for a 28.3%), Stefano Achermann and Carlo Achermann. The vendors will reinvest 52 million in BSF (TIP and Stefano Achermann 25 million each) in Engineering who is looking for furhter resources for financing the public offer.
Eni hired JPMorgan and Bofa Merrill Lynch for launching its London-listed Spac that aims to raise 200 million euros to invest in the energy transition sector (see here a previous post by BeBeez). On 16 February, Wednesday, Vår Energi listed on Oslo markt. Var is a Norwegian oil exploration and production born in 2018 out of the merger of Eni Norge (a subsidiary of Eni) and Point Resources (a portfolio company of private equity HitecVision). The company has a market capitalization in the region of 70 billion Norway’s krowns (7 billion euros).
Nextalia, the private equity that Francesco Canzonieri founded, and Intesa Sanpaolo created Digit’ed, a digital learning company (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Nextalia (80% owner) an Intesa SanPaolo will implement Digit’ed on Intesa Sanpaolo Formazione. Earlier in November Nextalia hit its first fundraising closing worth 563 million euros ahead of a target of 800 million by 1H22.
InvestcorpTages (IT), a joint venture that Investcorp signed with Tages in 2020, raised 40 million euros for the first closing of InvestcorpTages Impact Fund (ITIF) ahead of a target of 200 million (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Investcorp and Teges merged Investcorp Absolute Return Investments (ARI) and Tages Capital and created IT, a firm with 6 billion US Dollars of assets under management. Manuela Cedarmas, the head of ESG&Impact of InvestcorpTages and the manager of ITIF, said to BeBeez that the vehicle is a fund of private equity funds with a 10-years tenure that aims to build a portfolio of up to 8 European impact investors and allocate 20% of the resources for co-investments. In addition, ITIF aims to generate an annual Irr of 10-15%. Cedarmas said that ITIF will soon invest in an Italian fund and already poured 90% of resources of its first closing in funds based in Portugal, France, the UK, and Germany.
Gradiente and Qualitas Equity acquired 70% of Zafferano, an Italian manufacturer of lamps and tableware made of glass, ceramics and porcelain (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Federico de Majo and the Zobele Family sold the majority of the business and kept a 30% stake. Credit Agricole financed the buyers. Zafferano has sales of 30 million euros. Qualitas is a Spanish private equity with 6 billion of assets under management, focusing on impact investing and renewable energies.
Green Arrow Infrastructure of the Future (GAIF) fund, managed by Green Arrow Capital sgr, paid 14 million euros for acquiring the majority of four hydroelectric plants from Lazzari&Lucchini (L&L spa) (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Green Arrow signed a partnership with L&L in 2019.
Akeron, the software house of Manuel Vellutini and Marco Pierallini, acquired Nubess, a company of Simone Bartalesi, and rebranded as Level Up with the support of White Bridge Investments (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Akeron has revenues of 4.7 million euros, net sales of 3.6 million and an ebitda of minus 1.3 million. Nubess has sales of 2 millioni with an ebitda of minus 0.061 million.
Energy Transition Fund (SETF), a subsidiary of Swiss investor in infrastructures SUSI Partners, created a platform for the development and the management of photovoltaic plants in Italy (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The company aims to develop plants for a total power of 500 megawatt. SUSI Partners has assets under management worth 1.6 billion euros and its co-ceos are Marius Dorfmeister and Marco van Daele.
Matrix Renewables, an investor in renewable energy that belongs to TPG’s impact investing vehicle The Rise Fund, signed a strategic partnership with Energía Aljaval, a Spanish competitor (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The companies aim to develop photovoltaic plants in Italy with a total power of 300 MW.
Marelli, the producer of automotive components born in 2019 out of the merger that KKR carried on between Italy’s Magneti Marelli with Japanese Calsonic Kansei, asked Nissan Motors to acquire part of its stocked products and make new orders (See here a previous post by BeBeez). David Slump, ceo, is implementing a restructuring process. The company also asked Mizuho Bank to extend the maturity of its debt. Marelli has sales of 10.4 billion euros while the debt amounts to 9.5 billion US Dollars with Mizuho, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and other banks. Marelli has losses in the region of 250 million US Dollars. In 2018, KKR acquired Magneti Marelli from FCA (currently Stellantis) through its Japan’s portfolio company Calsonic Kansei, an asset that Nissan Motor and other shareholders sold in 2017 for 4.5 billion US Dollars. KKR paid 6.2 billion euros for Marelli after an initial bid of 5 billion. The asset attracted the interest of Bain Capital, Apollo Global Management, Cinven, and Carlyle.
Denmark’s investor in renewable energies Obton acquired a portfolio of photovoltaic plants from E2E, an Italian competitor that Gianluca Lancellotti heads (see here a previous post by BeBeez). After such an acquisition, the power of Obton’s portfolio amounts to 270MW with sales of 150 million euros.
Banca Progetto (fka Banca Lecchese), an Italian challenger bank of which Oaktree Capital Management owns 54% since 2021, hit its business plan targets two years earlier than scheduled (See here a previous post by BeBeez). The bank has assets of 4.6 billion euros (2.5 billion in 2020), a CET1 of 20% (19%) and net profits of 41 million (21 million). Paolo Fiorentino is the ceo of Banca Progetto.
RiverRock European Capital Partners is said to have made a binding bid for 29% of Milan-listed Banca Profilo (see here a previous post by BeBeez). RiverRock is not going to delist Banca Profilo who also attracted the interest of L&B Partners, the Moratti Family and other entrepreneurs. Sator Private Equity Fund has 62.4% of Banca Profilo. The asset also attracted the interest of Banor sim and Banca Finint for a 62.4% stake. Banca Profilo has revenues of 57.8 million euros and net profits of 8.7 million while the market capitalization is of 154.29 million.
Pillarstone proposed merging Italian shoe and apparels retailer Pittarosso with its competitor Scarpe & Scarpe (SS) (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Scarpe&Scarpe and Pittarosso applied for receivership in 2020. Pittarosso has sales of 217.8 million euros, equity of minus 151 million, an ebitda of minus 15.9 million, net losses of 168.1 million, and a net financial debt of 70.8 million. Lion Capital acquired Pittarosso in 2014 and in 2019 started a restructuring process for the company’s debt of 200 million with Intesa Sanpaolo, Unicredit, Mps, Banco Bpm, Sparkasse- Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano, and Bnl. Pillarstone is currently the main creditor of Pittarosso and SS after having acquired the companies exposures with the banks.
Unicredit Leasing (UL), a firm that belongs to Milan-listed Unicredit, attracted the non-binding offers of HPS Investment Partners, Bain Capital, Christofferson Robb & Company (CRC), and Alba Leasing (see here a previous post by BeBeez). PwC is auctioning the asset and expects to receive the binding offers in May. UL has a credit portfolio of 10 billion euros (7 billion in the real estate sector and 3 billion for equipment leasing). However, after having carried on their due diligence, buyers could be interested in selected assets and activities of the firm.
