After having lost the battle for Club Med at the end of 2014 (see here a previous post by BeBeez) Andrea Bonomi striked a very good deal in the resort operators sector buying Valtur, Or better. He striked three deals at once with its Investindustrial fund (download here the press release) which will ask him to pay 100 million euros in cash now and other 100 million euros in the next future to finance business devolpment, MF-Milano Finanza writes today.
First of all Investindustrial announced the acquisition of Valtur (about 100 million euros in revenues in 2015) from Sofia srl, a holding company owned by the Ljuljdjraj family, which is retaining a minority stake in the business. As a second step the fund signed an agreement with Italy’s property company Prelios to buy three resorts which are already managed by Valtur (in Ostuni, Pila and Marilleva).
Finally Mr. Bonomi signed an agreement with Antirion sgr owner of the luxury holiday complex Tanka Village in Sardinia (about 20 million euros in revenues in 2015), for managing the complex. A deal that was chased also by Club Med (today controlled by Chinese conglomerate Fosun) and Italy’s tour operator Alpitour (owned by Wise and J.Hirsch Italian private equity funds and itself in the sights of Fosun and other big European tour operators).
Tanka Village is one out of seven real estate properties formerly operated by Atahotels (UnipolSai), then bought by pension fund Enpam and finally sold to Antirion Global fund managed by Antirion sgr.
Founded in 1964, Valtur created the all-inclusive model “holiday village” in Italy. With Tanka as a prestigious new summer destination, and already available for the 2016 summer season, Valtur will exceed more than 1.5 million overnight stays per year.
Investindustrial will pay 100 million euros for the three deals and is committed to invest 100 million euros more in order to finance other acquisitions and to relaunch existing structures.
“Tourism is a strategic sector for the Italian economy that requires more attention from everyone. We are proud to support a project aimed at its enhancement”, commented Mr. Bonomi, adding that “today the resort players in the Italian market are still too fragmented to be able to attract and effectively manage the international flow of tourists that the country could potentially accommodate. Valtur will lead the consolidation process not only in Italy but more generally in Southern Europe. The agreement with Tanka is the first important milestone on this journey. We have developed a strategy with the company’s management that will transform Valtur into the reference brand for tourism in the Mediterranean region and will allow Investindustrial to share its leisure sector experience gained over the years with its successful investments such as Gardaland, Portaventura and Goldcar”.
Franjo Ljuljdjuraj, ceo of Valtur, commented: “When I started my adventure dedicated to the revitalization of a historic brand I knew that one day I would need a partner able to support the further development of the Company, including through acquistions. Investindustrial’s experience in the tourism sector and its recognized ability to globalise Italian brands are a perfect combination for Valtur.”
