Armonia buys stake in Milan-listed Biodue

The deal gives the company an enterprise value of around €64m, which equates to 8x its 2019 EBITDA, Unquote understands.

The acquisition was made via a newco named Aurora Dodici, which is owned by Armonia and the Rovati family's holding company, Fidim.

Armonia and Fidim acquired 5,417,680 shares at a price of 650 cents apiece for a total of €35.2m and expect to use a debt package of around €8-10m to support the deal.

The acquirers bought a 20.3% stake from Biodue CEO and majority shareholder Vanni Benedetti and 5.1% from Pierluigi Guasti, who will retain stakes of 17.19% and 13% respectively. In addition, Armonia and Fidim also acquired the entire stake of 23.2% owned by minority shareholder Ruffo Benedetti.

Following the closing of this deal, which is expected by the end of Q3 2019, Armonia will be required by law to launch a mandatory tender offer on the remaining 2,305,380 shares of the company at the same price of 650 cents per share.

Unquote understands that once Biodue has been taken private, Armonia and Fidim expect to control 70% in the company (of which 55% will be owned by Armonia and 45% by Fidim), while Vanni Benedetti and Pierluigi Guasti will control the remainder.

Armonia intends to support the company's growth and international expansion and is already considering potential bolt-ons to strengthen and enlarge its market share.

The GP deployed capital from its Armonia Italy Fund, which was originally launched with a €700m target – subsequently reduced to €250m – and held a final close on €280m in July 2018. The vehicle invests equity tickets of €25-75m in Italian SMEs operating in the food, luxuries, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle and services sectors. It is now around 58% deployed, Unquote understands.

Company
Established in 1986 and based in Tavernelle Val di Pesa, near Florence, Biodue is a producer of cosmetics, food supplements and medical devices. The company sells its products to Italian and international pharmaceutical companies, and markets them under its own brands: Pharcos, Selerbe and Biofta.

Biodue generated EBITDA of €7.4m from revenues of €41.5m in 2018 and expects to reach EBITDA of more than €8m from revenues of around €44m in 2019.

People
Armonia – Alessandro Grimaldi (CEO).
Biodue – Vanni Benedetti (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Gatti Pavesi Bianchi (legal).

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