Ardian-backed Celli buys MF Refrigeration

Following this acquisition, Celli expects to reach revenues of around €130m in 2019.

Ardian bought Celli from Italian private equity firm Consilium and the company's founding family in February 2019. The deal valued the business at around €250m, equal to 15x its 2018 EBITDA.  Celli's senior management, led by CEO Mauro Gallavotti, reinvested alongside the GP and acquired a minority stake. Ardian invested in Celli via its Ardian LBO Fund VI, which held a final close on €4bn in September 2016.

The sale ends a six-year holding period for Consilium, which bought a 70% stake in Celli via its Consilium Private Equity III fund; the vehicle closed on €145m in December 2014. Under Consilium's ownership, Celli acquired British beer tapping specialist Group ADS2 in 2015; water coolers producer Cosmetal in 2016; UK-based beer pump systems manufacturer Angram in 2017; and FJE Plastic Development, a British company specialising in plastic molding injection, in 2018.

Celli specialises in designing, manufacturing and installing water, beer and soft drinks dispensers. Its client base includes international breweries such as Heineken, Carlsberg, Asahi, Molson Coors, Budweiser and soft drinks producers including Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The company employs 400 staff, has five manufacturing plants in Italy and the UK, and exports its products to 100 countries worldwide. It generated EBITDA of around €16.5m from revenues of €110m in 2018.

Company
Headquartered in Sevenoaks, Kent, MF Refrigeration is a producer of cooling equipment. The company employs 70 staff across two production facilities based in the UK and has a manufacturing capacity exceeding 30,000 coolers per year. It sells its products across Europe, the US, the Middle East, South-East Asia and Australasia, serving primarily the beverage sector but also providing its cooling equipment to the leisure, automotive, printing and medical industries.

People
MF Refrigeration – Michael Filmer (managing director).
Celli – Mauro Gallavotti (CEO, chair); Nigel Farrar (CEO UK).

Advisers
Acquirer – KPMG (financial due diligence); 121 Advisory (corporate finance); Raworths (legal).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Portfolio management
• Southern Europe
• UK / Ireland
• Industrials
• Ardian (formerly Axa PE)
• Italy
• United Kingdom
• Build-up
• Buy-and-build
• KPMG