Equinox pauses Pizzium auction, will reevaluate in coming months

Italian pizza restaurant chain Pizzium has overperformed in recent months, opening 13 new locations between March and May to reach 43 in total, which has pushed up its financial performance, the sources said. 

The business generated strong sales with EBITDA margins over 20%, the sources said without elaborating. 

In response, the sponsor has decided to pause the sale of a majority stake in Pizzium in order to ride this positive wave and grow the company further, the sources said. It will decide later this year whether to restart the auction process, they added.

Equinox engaged Vitale in March to prepare a sale of Pizzium, which is marketed off EUR 10m in 2022 EBITDA. 

Pizzium has a Mergermarket Likely to Exit (LTE)* score of 66 at the time of publication, substantially weighted by reporting on the situation over the last 180 days.

The sponsor acquired a 40% stake in Pizzium for an undisclosed sum in September 2021, and co-founders, CEO Stefano Saturnino and Nanni Arbellini, retained control of the company.

Pizzium, Equinox and Vitale declined to comment. 

*Mergermarket's LTE predictive analytics assign a score to sponsor-backed companies to help track and predict when an exit could occur through M&A, an IPO, a direct listing or a deSPAC transaction.

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