F2i and Finavias (a vehicle of Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management and Ardian) granted Milan-listed Italgas with an exclusive talks period for assessing the acquisition of their portfolio company 2i Rete Gas (2iRG) that is also reportedly going public on Milan market (see here a previous post by BeBeez). F2i owns 63.9% of 2iRG while Finavias has 36.1%. Italgas retained Legance-Avvocati Associati for counsel and already secured a bridge financing facility of its financial advisor JPMorgan. The company said it could refinance the facility through a combination of equity, debt and equity like instruments in order to keep the current rating profile and dividend payout. The transaction value could be of up to five billion euros.
Italian football club Inter Milan, the winner of the last Serie A season, must repay on 20 May, Monday, a 275 million euros PIK bond with a 12% coupon that Oaktree subscribed (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The total repayment amounts to 385 million. Chinese conglomerate Suning, the owner of Inter Milan, has not yet reached an agreement with PIMCO for a refinancing facility of up to 430 mililon. If the Italian team seals a deal with another investor, Oaktree may cash 20% of the difference between the predefined valuation (800 million) and the real sale price (1.3 billion). Further clauses make difficult to close a deal.
Consob, the Italian stock market regulator, gave its approval for the public offer that NYSE-listed technology company Honeywell launched on Civitanavi Systems, an Italian competitor (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The deadline for tender to the 6.3 euros per share cash delisting offer is 19 July, Friday. Honeywell launched a take over on Civitanavi Systems on the ground of an equity value in the region of 200 million euros. Bird & Bird and UniCredit assisted Honeywell. Civitanavi Systems retained Rothschild & Co. Honeywell already owns 66.2% of the target.
FSI will invest 100 million euros for acquiring 80% of Retex, a provider of support services for the retail sector, through a capital increase (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Fausto Caprini is the ceo of the target that currently belongs to Ottobre (69.13%), Alkemia (15.82%), Erredierre (3.41%) and further minority shareholders. FSI received assistance from PedersoliGattai, Deloitte and EY Parthenon. Retex hired Legance, Fineurop Soditic, KPMG, ECOVIS STlex, and Rinaldi e Associati. Retex has sales of 86.1 million, an ebitda of 3.6 million and a net financial debt of 21.3 million.
Lapi Group, an Italian chemical company that belongs to the Lapi Family, acquired 5.19% of Lapi Gelatine from Fondo Rilancio e Sviluppo (part of Sviluppo Imprese Centro Italia) and reached the fully ownership of the business (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The fund invested in the target in 2021 for supporting Lapi’s acquisition of Juncà Gelatines, a Spanish competitor. Lapi Gelatine has sales of 32.7 million euros, an ebitda of minus one million, a net financial debt of 20.8 million, and equity of 13.9 million. Lapi Group has sales in the region of 150 million.
Sources said to BeBeez that Wise Equity signed a binding agreement with Aksìa Group for acquiring 60% of Italian food company Casa della Piada (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The vendor acquired the asset in 2018 and appointed Marco Vespasiano as ceo. Wise Equity retained Simmons & Simmons, Kpmg, Studio Spada Partners, and Erm. Vitale, Studio Legale Giliberti Triscornia e Associati, Studio Legale e Tributario Rdra, and EY assisted Aksìa and Casa della Piada which has sales of 50 million euros. Stefano Ghetti, a senior partner of Wise, said that the fund aims to grow Casa della Piada through domestic and international acquisitions.
In 2Q25, Milan-listed TMT and IoT player Unidata will complete the construction of its 900 kilometers submarine optic fibers infrastructure in the Tyrrhenian sea (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Fondo Infrastrutture per la Crescita ESG (Fondo IPC), a vehicle of Azimut Libera Impresa, provided the financial support for the project that required investmens 80 million euros worth (36 million in equity and 44 million in cash and banking facilities).
Hyle Capital acquired Guaresi, a producer of machinery for the agricolture sector, and launched the platform company Fyeld which purchased Grim and Hortech, two Italian competitors (see here a previous post by BeBeez). For 2024, Fyeld aims to generate sales of 65 million euros from 53 million in 2023. Massimo Zubelli and Livio Marchiori are the ceo and chairman of Fyeld.
Movinter signed a preliminary agreement for acquiring Saiep, a producer of railway systems (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Movinter belongs to RedFish Long Term Capital (Rfltc) since April 2023 and agreed to pay 4.35 million euros in two tranches for the target. The target’s second-generation owner Alberto Santi will get the first 3.85 million instalment (0.25 million in shares of Rfltc) at the end of June 2024 and 0.5 million by 30 June 2025. The equity value amounts to 4.4 million. Santi will be the coo of the company and reinvest in it. Movinter will finance the transaction with Basket Bond Movinter (3.6 million) and shares swap. AMTF Avvocati, Ecosphera, Anna D’Agostino, and Creso advised the buyers. The vendors retained Bakertilly Bolla Bergero Bianco CTL.
Util Industries, an Italian producer of automotive components that belongs to CCR – Dea Capital Alternative Funds, said it will launcha 15 million euros capitali increase that Swiss industrial company Trasteel Trading Holding will subscribe with the fund (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Roberto Signoriello is the ceo of Util and invested in the company. DeA Capital and Trasteel received assistance from Chiomenti and Gemma, Provaggi, De Andrè. CCR acquired 70% of Util Industries in 2017 on the ground of an enterprise value in the region of 90 million while Dea Capital and Wise kept a minority.
ConformGest, an Italian provider of post-sale services for second-hand vehicles that belongs to VAM Investments since 2023, signed an agreement for acquiring RPM Garantie (RPM) (see here a previous post by BeBeez). RPM handles warranties for second-hand vehicles and has sales of 2.7 million euros, an ebitda of 0.068 million and net cash of 0.921 million.
Diagram, an Italian agritech company that belongs to Nextalia Private Equity, said it acquired Netsens, an Italian maker of sensors, from ceo Antonio Manes (53%), Gianfranco Manes (17%) and Irritec (30%) (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The target has sales of 1.6 million euros, an ebitda in the region of 0.19 million and a net financial debt of 0.25 million.
Equita Group raised to 100% its holding in Milan M&A firm Equita KFinance after having purchased a further 30% from Giuseppe Renato Grasso and Filippo Guicciardi who received 5.65 million euros (2.05 million in cash and 3.6 million in shares of the buyers) (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Grasso and Guicciardi will head the firm that will rebrand as Equita Mid Cap Advisory.
Algebris Green Transition Fund said it is going to acquire 40% of OpenEconomics, a strategic management consultancy firm for climate change (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
SWEN Impact Fund for Transition 2 (SWIFT 2) and Italian renewable energy firm BiogaServizi launched Ringas and acquired six biogas plants in Italy (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The assets have a total power of 5.625MW. Ringas retained DLA Piper, Gitti & Partners, RINA, and BIT. SWIFT 2 has resources of 250 million euros. Massimo Vecchiet is the ceo of BiogaServizi which has sales of 5.1 million, an ebitda of 0.63 million and net debts of 0.805 million. Olivier Aubert is the managing director in charge of strategy for SWIFT.
Italian private equity firm Armònia appointed Galeazzo Pecori Giraldi and Biancamaria Raganelli as board members (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Alessandro Grimaldi is the fund’s ceo, while Francesco Chiappetta and Manuel Catalano act as chairman and vice chairman. Further directors of Armònia are Massimo Belcredi, Luigi Alfieri, Marco Anghileri, and Lucia Segni, who is also coo and head of ESG.
Quadrivio Group appointed Vincenzo Esposito, the ceo of Microsoft Italia, as senior advisor (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Alessandro Binello and Walter Ricciotti, the heads of Quadrivo, signed a partnership with NYSE-listed Software giant for implementing AI innovations for the portfolio companies.
In 1Q24, Milan-listed investment firm Italmobiliare generated a Net Asset Value of 2.217 billion euros (2.201 billion in 3Q23) (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The NAV per share amounts to 52.4 euros (52.1 euros) with a 34% discount on NAV (47%). The aggregate value of portfolio companies is of 1.412 billion (1.518 billion)
