Intesa Sanpaolo will soon proceed to a spin off of its private equity activies following the bank’s decisions announced last March in its 2014-2017 business plan aiming at refocus on its core business (download here the press release and see paragraph about a capital light bank). The Board of Directors of the bank actually discussed the issue a few days ago. The bank mandated Rotschild as the fairness opinion advisor.
Newswire Mergermarket wrote yesterday that the deal is directly managed by Intesa Sanpaolo’s head of  merchant banking, Marco Cerrina-Feroni, by head of private equity activities Fabio Cané and by top managers Michele Quaranta, Marco De Simoni Giacomo Berti, Tommaso de Bustis Figarola and Francesco Moglia.
Intesa Sanpaolo actually teamed up with US asset manager Neuberger Berman to create a jointly owned 500-600 million euros private equity fund. Intesa will transfer to the fund a portfolio of stakes in some Italian companies for a total value of 200-300 million euros , while the fund will also have 200-300 millions in cash to make new investments. Among stakes to be transferred to the fund are said to be the ones Fila, Stroili Oro (if the company is not sold in the next few days), Guala, Yamamay, Esaote, Pavan, Novamont  and Rina. Stakes in Giochi Preziosi will probably remain in Intesa’s portfolio as well as the one in Granarolo.
Neuberger Berman will also buy  Intesa’s positions in other private equity funds like Clessidra, Cinven, Apax, Carlyle and Apollo for a total value of 100 million euros. It is not clear if Intesa’s  position in Mandarin fund will be sold too. Neuberger Berman is already invested in Italian funds. Following the two deals with Intesa, Neuberger Berman will set up an Italian office.
Before Neuberger Berman, also Tages, Ardian  and Collier Capital talked to Intesa about a possible deal.
The joint venture between Intesa and Neuberger Berman will be the largest private equity operator in the Italian market after Investindustrial and Clessidra.
