QuattroR buys Ceramiche Ricchetti

Alessia Argentieri
10 August 2018

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QuattroR has acquired a majority stake in Milan-listed tiles specialist Ceramiche Ricchetti from the company's founders, the Zannoni family, at 21.5 euro cents per share.

Prior to this deal, the Zannoni family controlled 51.1 million shares – equal to a 62.4% stake – via its holdings Fincisa and Ceramiche Industriali di Sassuolo e Fiorano, while the remaining stake is listed on the Milan stock exchange.

The acquisition was conducted via a newco, of which the majority was acquired by QuattroR and the remaining minority was retained by Fincisa and Ceramiche Industriali di Sassuolo e Fiorano, which reinvested in the business. The newco is required by law to launch a mandatory tender offer on the remaining shares of the company.

The management team, led by CEO Maurizio Piglione and COO Matteo Davoli, will stay on with the business and will have the possibility to co-invest in the newco.

After completion of the deal, QuattroR intends to negotiate and put in place a restructuring plan with the company's lenders, a pool of banks that currently owns Ceramiche Ricchetti's debt.

The GP invested via its €711m fund, which held a first close in July 2017. The GP targets companies in temporary financial distress, with a solid production capability and revenues in excess of €100m. It invests equity tickets between €20-100m.

Ricchetti's shares gained 8.5% on the morning of the announcement and were trading at 22.9 cents at the time of publication.

Company
Founded in 1960 and based in Sassuolo, Ricchetti specialises in designing and distributing ceramic tiles. The company was listed on the Italian stock exchange in 1996. It generated negative consolidated EBITDA of €1m from revenues of €162.2m in 2017, down 1.8% on 2016, and reported a net debt of €89.8m.

People
Ceramiche Ricchetti – Maurizio Piglione (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Studio Gatti Pavesi Bianchi (legal); Leonardo&Co (corporate finance); Houlihan Lokey (corporate finance); Spada & Partners (tax).
Vendor – Studio Sutich Barbieri Sutich (legal); Studio Pincelli & Associati (tax).