by Francesca Vercesi
As expected, the Italian insurtech RGI group has again changed owner. This time it is CVC, through its CVC Capital Partners Fund VIII (see here the CVC press release and here the one by the company). The paneuropean private equity giant has acquired the Italian software manufacturer for the insurance sector from from colleague Corsair Capital, specialized in investments in services, software and payments for the financial services market, which last October 2021 had entrusted an assignment exploration to the financial boutique specializing in fintech, Arma Partners (see here a previous article by BeBeez). The sale process of the independent provider RGI had been underway for a few months and some of the major international private equity funds had their eyes on this dossier.
Assisting CVC Capital Partners Fund VIII in the acquisition of RGI was Latham & Watkins. The lending banks were assisted by Shearman & Sterling, by Gattai, Minoli, Partners. Corsair was assisted by Slaughter & May and BonelliErede.
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed but the enterprise value should be around 500 million euros, which would mean a super capital gain for Corsair Capital. For the insurtech company it is in fact the fourth change of ownership. In 2009 funds managed by 21 Investimenti and Quadrivio sgr had delisted the company from the Italian Stock Exchange. Then, in May 2014, Ardian Expansion, led by Paolo Bergonzini at the time, had acquired a 72% stake, with the rest remaining to the founder Paolo Benini and the management team (see here a previous article by BeBeez), recognizing RGI an enterprise value of 80 million euros. Then, at the end of 2017 Corsair Capital had arrived (see here a previous article by BeBeez), taking over 100% of the company from Ardian Expansion, Benini and top management, in a 125 million euros deal.
The new operation aims to support RGI’s growth in the insurance software sector and its transition to a cloud-based platform. RGI, one of the fastest growing Italian insurtech companies, covers processes such as policy management, complaints, statistical data, market management, reporting and sales and distribution. The company offers a wide range of cloud software solutions to a customer base in the P&C and life sectors across Europe, with leadership positions in Italy, France and Germany. The company has an international client portfolio that includes insurance and corporate clients of all levels, including six of the top ten insurance companies in Europe.
Already the previous acquisition, the one by Corsair, allowed the insurtech led by the ceo Alberto Piva to accelerate international growth with the acquisition of Kapia Solutions, active with the Kapia-RGI brand, a reality that operates as a competence center on local markets of France and Luxembourg, and with the subsequent acquisitions of the software provider Novum in the DACH area (Germany, Austria and Switzerland, see here a previous article by BeBeez) and of the majority stake in Unimatica, an Italian leader in digital signature management solutions and in legal digital archiving services, of which it initially bought 31%, and then rose to 56% in April 2019 (see here a previous article by BeBeez). Finally, in April 2021, RGI took over Flexperto, a software provider based in Germany focused on digital B2C collaboration and communication solutions (see here a previous article by BeBeez). In 2020, the company had a turnover of 102.4 million euros, generating an ebitda of 20.7 million against a net debt of more than 106 million, which is a legacy of the previous acquisition by Corsair Capital.
For CVC this is the second big deal in Italy in a few months: at the end of 2021 it has actually announced the sale of Sisal and Mooney (see here a previous article by BeBeez). Previously CVC has taken over companies such as edutech group Multiversity (see here a previous article by BeBeez), pharmaceutical company Genetic (see here a previous article by BeBeez) and a controlling stake in the Milan-listed pharma group Recordati (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
CVC is one of the leaders in international private equity, with a network of 25 offices in Europe, Asia and the United States and approximately 122 billion dollars in assets under management in private equity and private credit. Since its inception in 1981, CVC has secured commitments in excess of 165 billion dollars from some of the world’s largest institutional investors.
