F2i, Hat sell stakes in Sia to CDP Equity in €3.2bn deal

The deal gives the company an enterprise value of €3.2bn, including equity of around €2.4bn and debt of around €800m. The EV equates to 14.6x Sia's 2018 EBITDA and 12.5x its 2019 expected EBITDA, Unquote understands.

F2i sold its 17.05% holding for €415m and Hat sold its 8.64% stake for €210m. The GPs made a 5x return on their investments, Unquote understands.

In addition, Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, which owned 3.97% each in the company, sold their stakes to FSIA Investimenti, a holding company 30% owned by Poste Italiane and 70% by FSI Investimenti – which is 77% controlled by CDP Equity and 23% by the Kuwait Investment Authority.

Following the deal, FSIA, which already owned a 49.48% stake in the business, will control a 57.42% stake, while CDP Equity will directly hold 25.69% and the remainder will continue to be owned by a group of banks including Banco BPM, Mediolanum and Deutsche Bank.

F2i bought a 17.05% stake in Sia via its €1.2bn F2i II fund in March 2014, while Hat acquired its 8.64% stake by deploying capital from its two funds Fondo Hat ICT and Fondo Hat Sistema Infrastrutture.

Company
Sia specialises in providing payment services and platforms for financial markets, financial institutions, central banks, companies and the public sector. The business employs 3,465 staff and generated EBITDA of €222m from revenues of €614.8m in 2018. It expects to reach EBITDA of around €255m in 2019.

People
Sia – Nicola Cordone (CEO).

Advisers
Vendors – Vitale & Co (corporate finance). 
Acquirers – JP Morgan (corporate finance).

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