Italy’s leading home linen maker Vincenzo Zucchi spa filed for bankrupcty proceeding to the Court of Busto Arsizio (Varese) last week (see here the press release). The Milan-listed group is now looking for new investors.
The dossier already reached the desk of many private equity firms focused on businesses restructuring. Ernst & Young. has been appointed as advisor for the search of the new investors (both financial and industrial). Ceo Giovanni Battista Vacchi, speaking after Zucchi’s shareholders’ meeting last April 20th,  told Corriere della Sera newspaper that “we had received informal expressions of interest from people coming from many different countires”.
After the announcement of the file to the Milan’s Court, on Friday April24th Zucchi’s stocks open quite well at the Milan Stock exchange with a 7.5% gain to 0.056 euro per share and closed at 0.0544 euro, with a 3.03% gain and a market capitalization of 21.9 million euros.
The special bankrupcty proceeding for which Zucchi has filed will allow the company to prevent lenders to make actions for a range of 60 to 120 days. During that period the company will be able to arrange a complete filing for a debt restructuring agreement with its lending banks (see here the press release).
This will be the second agreement of that kind after the one signed with the banks in March 2013 and allowed by the Court of Milan in June 2013  (see here the press release). Back then a 20 million euros recapitalization had been decided while senior lenders confirmed 87 million euros of short term banking lines and swapped into equity 15 millions of medium-long term credits out of a total of  42.6 millions. After the recapitalization the group is now controlled by the goalkeeper from Juventus football team, Gigi Buffon (56%) and by three banks (Unicredit 4.7%, Intesa Sanpaolo 3.4% e Banca Popolare di Milano 2.5%).
At the end of last February, Zucchi had a net financial debt of 85.3 million euros, down from 92.7 millions at the end of 2014 (see here the pres release). At end of 2014 Zucchi breached some of its financial covenants and didn’t pay an installment of its scheduled debt reimburse program.
The situation had been predicted by the company so it had given mandate to AT Kearney as its industustial advisor in order to prepare a new business plan to be provided to the lenders. In the meantime a stand-still of the restructuring agreement had been asked for and allowed by the banks.
Zucchi reached 151 Â million euros in revenues in 2013 with a negative ebitda for one million euro, while analysts estimate 149 millions of revenues in 2014 with a flat ebitda (see here a report by Banca Akros).
