Investindustrial and Alpha exit Permasteelisa for €600m

Investindustrial reaped a money multiple of 3x and an IRR of 73% on its investment. The closing of the transaction is subject to antitrust regulations.

This is the southern European investor's second exit to an Asian company, following the sale of Italmatch Chemicals to a Chinese buyer for a 3.6x return multiple in December last year.

Previous funding
In September 2009, Investindustrial and Alpha acquired a 61.5% stake of Permasteelisa in a deal that valued the business at €353m (or €13 per share). The two buyout houses then launched a mandatory takeover offer at the same price for the remaining share capital, which was completed in February 2010. At that point Investindustrial held 49% of the share capital, Alpha had 42% and the management retained the remainder.

The transaction saw Investindustrial increase its share in the business, while Alpha made its first investment in the company. The sellers were hedge fund Amber Capital and Ditd Holding. Banca IMI and Mediobanca acted as corporate finance advisers, while Banca Populare di Milano and Intesa Sanpaolo provided senior debt.

Investindustrial and Alpha's strategy was to recover profitability at the firm and capture growth opportunities in emerging markets. During the investment period, they reorganised Permasteelisa's US operations, introduced new risk management tools and implemented a new project selection policy to minimise loss-making contracts.

Once the company had reached performance levels in line with the investor's best-case assumptions, they decided to exit as most of the planned operational improvements were complete and strong interest was being generated among industrial buyers. A trade sale had been Investindustrial's preferred exit route.

Company
Engineering firm Permasteelisa was set up in 1973. The company manufactures and installs architectural envelopes ("curtain walls") and has worked with contemporary architects to develop high-tech solutions for the construction industry.

Based in Vittorio Veneto, the business is active across four continents: Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia. It reported a turnover of €1.08bn in 2008, compared to €1bn today, with more than 95% of its sales coming from outside Italy. The firm employs some 5,500 people and had an EBITDA margin of 4.1% in 2007, which had doubled to 8% by the end of last year.

People
Andrea C Bonomi, chairman, led the deal for Investindustrial. Nicola Greco is the CEO of Permasteelisa, which was founded by Massimo Colomban.

Advisers
Equity – Credit Suisse Group (Corporate finance); Mediobanca (Corporate finance); Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Roberto Casati, Matteo Montanaro (Legal).
Purchaser – Nomura (Corporate finance); Clifford Chance (Legal).

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• Topics
• Exits
• Southern Europe
• Industrials
• Italy
• Investindustrial
• Alpha Private Equity