Italy’s private equity weekly roundup. News from Equitix, Investindustrial, Xyence Capital, Telepass, Fedrigoni, HOFI, Alto Partners and more

Equitix, a British investor in infrastructures, acquired 60% of AE Sun Capital, the owner of the photovoltaic plants of Rome’s multiutility Gruppo Acea who kept a 40% (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Equitix paid 220 million euros for the asset who also attracted the interest of Tages. Intesa Sanpaolo, ING, Natixis CIB, and BPCE Lease provided a financing facility of 190 million.  

On 28 March, Monday, Investindustrial launched its delisting offer on Milan-listed food company La Doria (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The offer will end on 21 April, Thursday. La Doria has a market capitalization in the region of 510 million euros. Investindustrial tabled a bid of 16,50 Euros per share through the vehicle Amalfi Holding of which the Ferraioli Family has 35%. La Doria has an enterprise value of 621 million or 6.9X ebitda. The company’s comparables have a median market capitalization of 8.5 – 8.6x ebitda

Palex Medical, a distributor of high-end MedTech solutions in Spain and Portugal, belongs to private equity Fremman Capital, acquired Italian competitor Gada from Xyence Capital (fka Principia), Davide Ciattoni Antonio Biagio De Marinis, and Alessandro Pellegrinelli (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Xyence acquired 65% of Gada in 2018 from Antonio Gualtieri. De Marinis (ceo), Ciattoni and Pellegrinelli reinvested for a 35% of the business. Gada has sales of 94.1 million euros, an ebitda of 5.8 million and a net financial debt of 18.9 million. 

UniCredit incorporated wealth manager Cordusio sim (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The Milan-listed bank is carrying on a rationalization process. Cordusio Sim has 100 billion euros of assets under management.  

Andrea Sironi resigned from his role of chairman of Borsa Italiana and Claudia Parzani, the company’s vicepresident, will replace him from 27 Aprile, Friday (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Parzani i salso the chairwoman of Allianz and partner of international law firm Linklaters. Sironi resigned as Gabriele Galateri di Genola nominated him as chairman of his list of directors of Milan-listed Assicurazioni Generali 

The Nattino family aims to rationalize the shareholding structure of Milan-listed Banca Finnat Euramerica ahead of a delisting of the firm (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The Nattino family owns 69% of Banca Finnat at a book value of 0,31 euros per share. On 24 March, Thursday, Banca Finnat recorded a market capitalization of 92 million euros. The Nattino Family will invest up to 17.25 million for delisting the bank who has assets under management of 18.1 billion, net profits of 6.1 million and a brokerage margin of 67.5 million.  

Telepass, the provider of payment tools for motorways that belongs to Milan-listed Atlantia (51%) and Partners Group (49%), acquired French competitor Eurotoll from Spain’s Abertis (See here a previous post by BeBeez). Atlantia owns 50,1% of Abertis and carried own the acquisition with Fai Service. Gabriele Benedetto, the ceo of Telepass, reiterated that the company aims to invest up to 100 million euros until 2023.  

Fedrigoni, the Italian special papers producer that belongs to Bain Capital, acquired the majority of Tageos, a French producer of smart labels, and signed a call option for buying the remaining shares of the business. (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Matthieu Picon, Laurent Delaby, Nicolas Jacquemin (who kept a minority and their management roles) and Newfund, which poured seed resources in the company in 2012, sold the company. Bain Capital is currently mulling for a dual track IPO for Fedrigoni who repaid a 40 million euros tranche of the 455 million bond that issued in 2018 and maturing in 2024. The liability financed the leverage buy out of Bain Capital.  

Alto Partners acquired Mipharm, an Italian third-parties drugs producer, from Mandarin Capital Partners (MCP), Maurizio Silvestri (chairman and ceo – 1.77%), Cassiopea Partners (0.88%), and other managers (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Cassiopea Partners also acted as financial advisor for MCP who acquired Mipharm in 2016. The company has sales of 40 million euros and  an ebitda of 4.9 million.  

LB Officine Meccaniche, an engineering company operating in the field of the tile industry that belongs to club deal Astraco, acquired Barcom, a provider of environmental technology from the founder Enrico Baroni who will reinvest for a minority (see here a previous post by BeBeez). LB has sales of 60 million euros. Astraco acquired 60% of LB Invest in 2019 from the Ligabue Family with the support of private debt fund Riello who subscribed two bonds worth 6.6 million. 

HOFI (Holding Funeraria Italiana), a company that belongs to Augens Capital and BMO Global Asset Management, acquired a 70% of Onoranze Funebri Generali di Brescia (OF Brescia) from the Montanari, Pagliarini and BologniniFamilies (See here a previous post by BeBeez). OF Brescia has sales of 2.3 million euros.  

P. Van De Velde Group, a Belgium-based packaging company that belongs to Eurazeo since January, acquired Italian competitor ILC – Industria Litografica Cartotecnica from Carlo Casé (see here a previous post by BeBeez). ILC has sales of 7.8 million euros and an ebitda of 0.92 million with net cash of 1.8 million. P. Van De Velde financed the transaction with the unitranche credit facility that in September 2021 received from Kartesia.  

On 7 April, Thursday, the board of directors of Milan-listed TIM will assess the public offer that KKR must file by 4 April, Monday (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The fund reportedly made a bid for the whole company on the ground of an equity value of 11 billion euros and an enterprise value of 0,505 euros per share or 33 billion. Tim’s directors may also decide for the non-binding offer that CVC Capital Partners tabled for a 49% of Enterprise di ServCo on the ground of an enterprise value of 6 billion (See here a previous post by BeBeez).  

Ital Brokers attracted the interest of UK competitor Oneglobal broking, a portfolio company of JC Flowers born in 2018 out of the merger of Ssl with Endeavour (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Franco Lazzarini, the ceo and founder of Ital Brokers, is facing allegations for the bankruptcy Ital Red of which he was the chairman. In 2015, Ital Broker sold a 33.99% to Luxembourg’s Rainbow Finance and a 19.73% to Logtainer. The company also belongs to Giovanni Pisani (18.15%), Sebastiano Romeo (17.96%) and other minority shareholders such as Duferco, the Italian steel company that belongs to the family of Antonio Gozzi. Ital Brokers has sales of 18.8 million euros, an ebitda of 5.5 million and a net financial debt of 3.7 million.  

Ardian is mulling for selling part of its stake in Dedalus, an IT provider for the healthcare sector (see here a previous post by BeBeez). In May 2021, Ardian already sold part of its shares in the company to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). Andrea Fiumicelli is the ceo of Dedalus who has sales of 750 million euros and an ebitda of more than 200 million. Dedalus enterprise value could amout to 5.4-6 billion. Ardian acquired 60% of the company in 2016 from Hutton Collins Partners, The Three Hills Capital Partners, Mandarin Capital Partners and Giorgio Moretti who kept a 40%. In 2020, Ardian increased its stake to 75% for financing the acquisition of the medical IT unit of Agfa Gevaert.  

Xenon Private Equity Small Cap acquired 49% of WeBravo, an Italian digital couponing company, from founders Marco Farnaro, Claudio Veratti and Michele Legnaioli (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Milan-listed Illimity Bank structured the financing of the transaction. WeBravo has sales of 6 million euros with a 30% ebitda margin and net cash of one million. In May 2021, Xenon Private Equity Small Cap raised 85 million euros, above the 70 million target, and attracted the resources of FOF Private Equity Italia di Fondo Italiano d’Investimento and the European Investment Fund. 

ForVei, an investor in the photovoltaic sector, sold to Wenerga a a 4Mw photovoltaic plant based in Slovakia (see here a previous post by BeBeez). the vendor acquired the asset (and 34 Italy-based plant with a total power of 37 MW) in 2019 from US-Origis Energy. ForVEI belongs to Foresight Group (37%), NWS Holdings Limited (40%) and FinCarl (23%).  

 Tecno Holding, a vehicle of Italian chambers of commerce, will sell its 30% of private equity HAT to the managing partner Nino Attanasio (chairman) and Ignazio Castiglioni (ceo) who already have 70% (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The funds of HAT generated a carried interest  of above 30 million Euros and an Irr of more than 20%.

On 28 March, Monday, Bemycompany Capital Partners (Bmc), an industrial holding that Antonio Quintino Chieffo leads, sold its 14% of Merida Italy, an Italian producer of bycicles, to a club deal of investors for 0.5 million euros (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Bmc Capital Partners acquired its stake in Merida Italy in December 2020 from Savino del Bene with the support of BCC Laudense. BMC posted a 40% capital gain out of such a sale. Merida Italy belongs to Taiwan’s Merida (27%), ForeverBambù (30%), PaoloFerretti and Nerino Ferretti (29%). The company has sales of 10.2 million and an ebitda of 0.35 million with net cash of 0.6 million.  

Italian M&A firm Brera Advisory rebranded as Clearwater International (See here a previous post by BeBeez). Clearwater International is a network of mid-market financial advisors that in the last ten years closed in Europe more than 2,000 transactions worth more than 109 billion euros. Francesco Perrini, Alexandre Perrucci, Niccolò Querci, and Andrea Pagliara founded Brera Advisory in 2017.