Italy’s private equity weekly roundup. News from Prima Industrie, Fedrigoni, TIM, Italo NTV, Azimut, Ver Capital, Marcegaglia and more

Alpha Private Equity and Peninsula Investments aim to delist Italian industrial machinery producer Prima Industrie from Milan market (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The company said that the funds tabled two separate non binding expressions of interest for Prima Industrie ahead of launching a public offer of 25 euros per share. Prima Industrie has a market capitalization of 182.3 million euros.

Gruppo Fedrigoni, an Italian producer of special paper for luxury packaging di lusso that belongs to Bain Capital, announced the acquisition of Unifol, a Turkish producer of PVC stickers (see here a previous post by BeBeez). In 2017, Bain Capital acquired 90% of Fedrigoni for 650 million. The fund reportedly hired Rothschild and Morgan Stanley for selling the company which already attracted the interest of BC Partners, Partners Group, Onex, and Brookfield. Fedrigoni has sales of 1.6 billion euros with an adjusted ebitda of 214.8 million and a net financial debt of 577.7 million. Market rumours say that Bain could sell Fedrigoni for 2.5-3 billion. 

The board of directors of Milan-listed TMT company TIM authorized ceo Pietro Labriola to carry on a spin off of its commercial activities from the infrastruture network ahead of a merger this asset with Open Fiber and reducing its debt (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The company aims to separate NetCo (its infrastructure network) from its services activities (ServiceCo, which includes TIM Consumer, TIM Enterprise and TIM Brasil).   

TIM, Leonardo, Cdp Equity and Sogei beaten the competitors for the tender to the management o Polo Strategico Nazionale per il Cloud (PSN), the cloud assets for the Italian Ministry of Defence and the Public administration (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Aruba-Fastweb tabled a bid 39.19% lower than 4.4 billion euros, the tender’s value.  

Global Infrastructure Partners could soon hire Goldman and Rotschild for selling Italian transport company Italo Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV), wich already attracted the interest of BlackRock and EQT (see here a previous post by BeBeez). GIP acquired NTV in 2018 on the ground of an enterprise value of 2.4 billion euros and an equity value of 1.94 billion  

Italian steel producer Gruppo Marcegaglia acquired the bond products business of Finland’s Outokumpu for 228 million euros on the ground of an enterprise value 4.9 X the target’s adjusted ebitda of 47 million (see here a previous post by BeBeez). 

Guala Closures, an Italian producer of corks, signed a commitment for acquiring Italian competitor Labrenta from Gianni and Amerigo Tagliapietra that will reinvest in the buyer (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The target has sales of 30 million euros. Guala Closures has a turnover of 660 million with an adjusted ebitda of 115 million and a net debt of 462 million. 

Milan-listed Azimut launched Infrastructure & Real Assets ESG, an Eltif vehicle (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Gabriele Blei, the firm’s ceo, said that the 1H22 fundraising for private markets amounted to 746 million euros, while the total assets under management are worth 5.5 billion. Azimut Libera Impresa will manage Infrastructure & Real Assets ESG with a fundraising target of 250 million with a first initial investment ticket of 10,000 euros and of 5,000 euros for the following add ons. 

Ver Capital Sinloc Transition Energy Fund reached its first fundraising closing worth 45 million euros (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The vehicle set a hard cap target of 200 million with a net yield of 10%. The fund aims to invest in the energy efficiency, smart cities and renewable energies. 

Luxembourg-based Mindful Capital Partners (fka Mandarin Capital Partners)  opened a branch in Italy (See here a previous post by BeBeez). Managing parters Lorenzo Stanca, Alberto Camaggi, Andrea Tuccio, Alberto Forchielli, Zhen Gao, Matteo Sessi and Inna Gehrt lead Mindful Capital. 

In 1H22, the volume of M&A transactions in Italy amounted to 30.7 billion euros (down 40.1% from 51.3 billion in 1H21), said a report of EY (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The report said that the average size of the transaction decreased because of a higher volatility.  

Riccardo Bruno, a senior partner of Next Evolution Fund II (part of EOS Investment Management), led a club deal vehicle that acquired a 40% of Italian fashion firm Harmont & Blaine from from Clessidra Private Equity (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Paolo Montefusco will act as ceo while Bruno will be the company’s chairman. In 2014, Clessidra acquired 35% of the company and later increased its stake to 40%. In 2018, the fund hired Lazard for selling the fund’s stake and a further 30% that belonged to the Menniti-Montefusco family. However, the bank could not sell the asset. 

Domenico Cavaliere led a club deal that acquired Italian executive search firm Di Luccia & Partners from the founder Domenico Di Luccia (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The buyers paid 51% in cash and 49% in exchange of a 30% of the acquisition vehicle.  

 South Korea’s fashion firm F&F acquired Italian sportswear firm Sergio Tacchini for 63 million US Dollars from Twin Lakes Capital and B.Riley Principal Investments (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The vendors purchased the asset in 2019 with the ceo Stefano Maroni from Wintex Italia, a subsidiary of Wintex Hong Kong  

UK’s Collingwood Lighting Technology, a portfolio company of Ambienta, acquired Italian led producer Nobile Italia (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Fulvio Nobile (ceo) and Davide Jurisic (coo) reinvested for a minority of the target. Baird Capital sold Collingwood LTC to Ambienta in February 2021. 

Italy’s tannery company GM Leather listed on Milan market after having raised 4 million euros of 1.75 euros per share (see here a previous post by BeBeez).The company attracted 1.2 million from the cornerstone investor Smart Capital, a permanent capital investor in listed or soon to go public Italian SMEs. After the listing,  Carmen Marcigaglia, chairwoman of GM, will own 79.74% of the company. 

 Fantic Motor, an Italian producer of e-bikes and motorbikes, acquired Bottecchia Cicli, an Italian bikes manufacturer (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Deutsche Bank financed the buyers. Bottecchia has sales of 12.9 million eurs with an ebitda of 0.57 million and net cash of 4.8 million.