Rhône Capital exits Milan-listed Unieuro

The net proceeds amount to €46m, deriving from the sale of 3.5 million shares at €13.25 apiece. This brings the total proceeds from Rhône's investment in Unieuro to approximately €202m since its initial public offering in 2017.

Citigroup Global Markets and Mediobanca - Banca di Credito Finanziario acted as joint bookrunners on the transaction.

Minority shareholders Dixons Carphone, the founding Silvestrini family, Amundi Asset Management and the company's management team will maintain their stakes of 7.2%, 5.6%, 5.6% and 2%, respectively.

Rhône bought an 84% stake in Marco Polo Expert-SGM Distribuzione in 2005 from the Sivestrini family, who reinvested in the business and retained the remainder. Subsequently, Rhône acquired Unieuro from Dixons Carphone in October 2013 and merged it with its portfolio company, while Dixons retained a minority holding in the business.

The deal was made via a newco named Italian Electronics Holding, which was 15% controlled by Dixons and 85% by Venice Holding. The latter was 83% owned by Rhône, 10% by the Silvestrini family and 7% by the management.

Subsequently, 35% of the company's share capital was listed on the Italian stock exchange in April 2017 at €11.00 per share. Following the IPO, Rhône listed an additional 17.5% in September 2017 and 14.2% in December 2017, reducing its stake in the company to 33.8%. More recently, the GP sold a 16.2% stake in November 2019.

Under Rhône's ownership, the company grew from a family-run business to an omni-channel publicly traded consumer electronics specialist. It opened new stores across Italy, developed its online platform and significantly increased its revenues.

Company
Headquartered in Forlì, Unieuro is a retailer of consumer electronics and household appliances. It operates 520 stores located across Italy and via a digital platform.

The company employs 5,000 staff and generated EBITDA of €73.6m from revenues of €2.1bn in the year ending in February 2019. In the first nine months of 2019, Unieuro generated EBITDA of €49.6m from revenues of €1.8bn.

People
Rhône Capital – Gianpiero Lenza (managing director).
Unieuro – Giancarlo Nicosanti Monterastelli (CEO).

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

• Topics
• Exits
• Southern Europe
• Consumer
• PIPEs
• Rhone Capital
• Italy