Iris Capital exits Lediberg

Alessia Argentieri
07 June 2018

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Lebanese GP Iris Capital has sold Lediberg, an Italian paper and leather accessories manufacturer, to stationery producer Johnson CPZ Distribuzione, owned by the Carrara family.

Iris Capital Fund bought Lediberg in February 2014 from Synergo and the company's founders via a newco called Lebit. Iris owned an 84% stake in Lebit, while the remaining 16% was controlled by Italian Diaries Holding, a company owned by a pool of Italian entrepreneurs. The operation was a €60m secondary buyout and debt restructuring, involving €20m of new equity injected by the investors and an agreement with the existing lenders (Intesa, Unicredit, MPS, BNL, Natixis and IKB) to reduce the company's debt from €140m to €83m.

Previous funding
Unicredit's Capitalia Sofipa acquired a stake in Lediberg in 2006 via Sofipa Equity Fund I and Sofipa Equity Fund II, while the company's founders, the Castelli family, retained a majority holding. The deal was valued at €195m, including €145m in debt. PE firm Synergo bought Capitalia Sofipa from Unicredit in 2012 and inherited its stake in Lediberg. The GP exited the company in 2014 when it sold its holding to Lebit.

Company
Founded in 1965 and based in San Paolo d'Argon, near Bergamo, Lediberg manufactures and distributes paper products, leather goods and accessories, such as diaries, calendars, notebooks, photo albums, recipe books and address books.

The business has a presence in Italy, eastern Europe, Brazil and the Middle East. The company has seven production facilities – four in Italy, one in Germany, one in Brazil and one in Romania – and employs around 1,000 staff. Lediberg has €83m in debt with several Italian banks.

People
Lebit Holding – Joe Seikaly (chair).

Advisers
Vendor – Dentons (legal).
Acquirer – Granelli Almini (legal).