The Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance tabled a bid for the majority of Milan-listed TIM‘s submarine cable subsidiary Sparkle (see here a previous post by BeBeez). MEF and KKR are the owners of NetCo, the vehicle that will reportedly acquire TIM’s infrastructure network. Sources said that MEF made an offer 800 – 850 million. Press reports quoted Pietro Labriola, the ceo of TIM, as saying that the company expects a 14.2 billion deleverage after Netco deal.
WindTre is facing issues for the 60% sale of its 3.4 billion euros (enterprise value) worth infratructure network to EQT (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The parties previously scheduled a closing for 12 February, Sunday. WindTre would have managed the 5G infrastructure that Fastweb, part of Swisscom, would have used. Gianluca Corti and Benoit Hanssen heads WindTre, which belongs to Hong Kong-listed CK Hutchison Holdings. The talks reached a stalemate as WindTre could not provide EQT with the warranty for its agreement with Fastweb. Furthermore, WindTre and EQT have not yet reached an agreement for Zefiro Net, an even joint venture that the potential vendor signed with iliad for the mobile phones infrastructure network.
UK-listed TMT giant Vodafone called off the talks for merging its Italian activities with French competitor iliad which received support from Apax Partners (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Press rumours say that the French company tabled a cash bid of above the proposal of 11.25 billion euros that made in 2022 to Vodafone. Iliad said it will pursue a stand-alone strategy in Italy while Vodafone announced it will exploring options for its Italian activities. Market Rumours say that Vodafone is holding talks with Fastweb, an Italian subsidiary of Swisscom. In October 2023, the UK tmt company sold its Spanish activities to Zegona Communications with a 5 billion transaction in view of a focus on the core presence in the United Kingdom where it merged with Three UK.
F2A, an Italian BPO provider that belongs to Ardian since 2016, said it acquired the majority of At Work, an Italian competitor, from the founders Floriano Avi and Carlo Benedetti that will keep their executive roles (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Studio Pedersoli & Gattai and KPMG assisted F2A. At Work hired Studio Dalmonego Gottardi Commercialisti Associati and IOOS Studio Legale e Tributario. After such a transaction, F2A expects to generate sales in the region of 100 million euros.
The Italian Antitrust authority authorized FSI to acquire 43% of Bancomat, the Italian network of cash withdrawal machines, from Intesa Sanpaolo, Iccrea Banca, Banco BPM, and BPER (see here a previous post by BeBeez). FSI will subscribe to a 100 million euros capital increase of Bancomat of which it will gain the exclusive control.
Alcedo sold Friulair, an Italian producer of industrial components that acquired in 2020, to Ingersoll Rand (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Alcedo retained DC Advisory and ADVANT Nctm. Ingersoll Rand hired Clearwater International and BonelliErede. Friulair has sales of 65 million euros.
Intellera Consulting, a portfolio company of Gyrus Capital, said it acquired PredictBy, a Barcelona-based research and consulting firm for the lifescience (health e pharma) sector (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Intellera has sales of 113 million euros and an ebitda of above 26.5 million.
Italian PR firm SEC Newgate, a portfolio company of Three Hills Capital Partners (THCP) that also belongs to UK’s Retro Grand Limited (RGL) and ceo Fiorenzo Tagliabue, said it acquired 70% of Greek competitor V+O Group (see here a previous post by BeBeez). SEC has sales of 150 million euros, an ebitda of 23.7 million and gross profits of 15.5 million.
Petplus, a club deal platform that Luca Bozzoni and Alberto Gianfranco Nughedu launched, acquired 70% of La Zootecnica Group, a distributor of drugs for animals (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The target’s founders Fulvio Rebasti and Roberto Rebasti will now own 15% of the company each. Petplus financed the transaction with a capital increase of 5.5 million euros that Paolo Colonna and Tiziano Gottardo subscribed. Petplus has sales of 69 million, an ebitda of 1.9 million and a net debt of 10.5 million.
Tempestini, an Italian food company that serves the big distribution and the Ho.Re.Ca channels with its own brands, sold a minority stake to SICI (Sviluppo imprese Centro Italia ) (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The company belongs to the eponymous family that founded the business in 1985. Andrea Tempestini will keep his ceo role. PwC Tls, Labs Corporate Finance, BGSM & Partners, and EY assisted the vendors. Tempestini has sales of above 18 million euros.
Poke House, the Italian restaurants chain, acquired the majority of Poké House Belgium (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The target owns 15 shops. In May 2023, Poke House attracted the investment of Red Circle Investments, Eulero Capital, FG2 Capital, and Milano Investment Partners. The buyer has sales of 100 million euros.
Tre Zeta Group, an Italian producer of luxury soils for sneakers and high – end shoes that belongs to Koinos Capital since 2021, acquired Italian competitor Walking World from even owners Antonio Giampaoli and Sonia Mangialardo (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The target has sales of 3.4 million euros, an ebitda of 1.5 million and net cash of 1.7 million.
Alto Partners, a private equity firm that Stefano Scarpis and Raffaele de Courten created, attracted 273 million euros in commitments (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Alto Partners set a fundraising target of 300 million.
Progressio said it attracted commitments of 182 million euros ahead of a fundraising target of 300 million (350 million hard cap) (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Progressio is article 8 SFDR compliant.
Fondo Italiano Private Equity Co-investimenti (FIPEC), a co-investment vehicle that Fondo Italiano d’Investimento (FII) launched for investing in Italian SMES, attracted 82 million euros ahead of a 150 million target (see here a previous post by BeBeez). CDP acted as cornerstone investor. FIPEC aims to invest tickets of 5 – 10 million in 10-12 companies. On 21 October 2023, BeBeez Magazine n 14 quoted Luigi Tommasini, senior partner of FII and head of funds of funds, as saying that the firm was going to launch FIPEC
UniCredit will distribute Clean Transition Equity Eltif Apollo Global Management with its UHNWIs (Ultra High net worth individuals) clients (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The vehicle will target majority stakes of companies operating in the energy transition, circular economy and water management mainly based in USA.
