Moleskine's public market debut belies Advent's Milan closure

Amy King
02 April 2013

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Syntegra's Moleskine, the golden boy of Italian private equity, has listed. But while the local GP revels in the benefits the domestic market affords, Advent International closes its Milan office. Amy King investigates

The number of IPOs in Italy is at its lowest point since 2003, according to data released by Aifi, the Italian venture capital and private equity association. But for private equity, the only way is up.

Having hit rock bottom, the number of private equity-backed listings as a percentage of national IPOs is on the increase and the latest success story will provide a major boost: Moleskine, the notebook and diary brand backed by Italian investor Syntegra, has completed the listing of its ordinary shares on the MTA exchange in Italy.

"The last IPO on the Milan Stock Exchange was exactly one year ago," highlights Syntegra partner Marco Ariello. "Moleskine reopens the markets and hopefully paves the way for more listings to come," he adds. Indeed it is only the third business to go public in Italy since early 2011.

Since Syntegra acquired a 75% stake in Moleskine for around €60m in 2006, with the support of a senior debt package from Interbanca, sales have grown from €20.8m to hit €66.7m in 2011. Its EBITDA has risen from €8m to €29.1m in the same period.

The offer price for the public offering and institutional placement of shares was set at €2.30 per share, the middle of its €2-2.65 indicative range. Institutional demand came from local and international investors across continental Europe, the UK, the US and Asia. Trading is set to begin tomorrow.

But while one investor has harnessed the opportunities Italy presents, another is closing operations in the bel paese; on the back of a colossal €8.5bn fundraise, Advent International has announced the closing of its Milan office. The announcement runs hot on the heels of the closure of Advent's Istanbul office, in the wake of a strategic review of its deployment of resources.

The GP opened the Milan office in 1991 and completed nine deals in the country, including dairy producer Parmalat and hotel reservations firm Venere, the target of its most recent Italian investment completed in 2006.

Advent's divestment of its Italian portfolio concluded in 2010 with the sale of telecoms vendor Italtel, which span out from Telecom Italia. Despite its retreat, the GP will continue to include Italy as part of its pan-European strategy, investing instead from its remaining European offices.

"In recent years, new deal activity in the market has been particularly slow," said an Advent spokesperson. "With the continued softness in the investment environment and without any active portfolio companies to oversee, we believe that now is the ideal time to consider our longer-term operating model in the country."

Yet statistics published by Aifi show a 7% uptick in deal volume in 2012 compared to the previous year. And despite the bad press, the number of international investors operating in Italy has remained constant over the last three years, accounting for 30% of overall private equity activity in the country. Defying macroeconomic and political turmoil, overseas investors have continued to dip their toes into Italy's volatile waters.