Unigrains holds €40m first close for Italian fund

The fund, which has a target of €50m and a hard-cap of €70m, reached its first close after one year on the road and is expected to hold a final close by the end of Q1 2019, Unquote understands.

The vehicle's strategy will be directed by a team of three investment managers based in Milan – Francesco Orazi, Alfredo Cicognani and Stefano Masini – who joined Unigrains in 2015 from Crédit Agricole's Sodica Investimenti and have more than 10 years of experience in the agri-food sector.

Investors
Unigrains committed €25m, while the remaining capital was provided by Italian family offices, French and Swiss institutional investors and several Italian entrepreneurs, Unquote understands. The fund expects to receive additional commitments from French and Italian private and institutional investors and funds-of-funds in the coming months.

Investments
FAI will invest in minority stakes in growth capital and buyout transactions, targeting Italian agri-food SMEs with revenues between €10-150m. For the companies with annual revenues in the €10-15m range, an EBITDA margin around 15-20% is also required. All the transactions will be conducted as co-investments and will require that the family that owns the target company stays on with the business and retains a holding.

The GP told Unquote that the fund will structure buyouts with a leverage level of 3-3.5x EBITDA, where the debt packages will be mainly provided by Italian banks.

The vehicle plans to make 10 investments and has already inherited two portfolio companies acquired by Unigrains in Italy in 2016 and 2017 by investing €10m, Trasporti Romagna and Sfoglia Torino. In addition to this, Unquote understands that two deals will be inked by the fund in the coming weeks for €6m each. Following completion of these two upcoming transactions, the fund will be already deployed at almost 50%.

People
Fondo Agroalimentare Italiano – Francesco Orazi (investment director).
Unigrains – Jean-François Laurain (CEO).

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