Wise Equity buys Fimo from IGI

Alessia Argentieri
08 July 2020

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Private equity specialist Wise Equity has acquired Italian telecoms cable manufacturer Fimo from private equity firm IGI.

This is the first deal inked by the GP via Wisequity V, which closed on its €260m hard-cap in July 2019. The fund targets Italian family-owned mid-market companies, operating in niche B2B sectors, with enterprise values in the €20-70m bracket. It acquires majority stakes and deploys equity tickets in the €5-20m range.

Banco BPM, alongside Crédit Agricole Italia and Intesa Sanpaolo, provided a debt package to support the acquisition.

Following the deal, CEO Luca Tamberi will stay on with the business and continue to lead the company. He will also reinvest in Fimo in exchange for a small minority interest.

Stefano Ghetti, senior partner at Wise, told Unquote: "Fimo operates in a sector that has been performing well during the Covid-19 emergency, following the rise in demand for data and mobile networks. We expect the company to increase both its revenues and EBITDA by around 5-10% in 2020."

Wise intends to consolidate Fimo's presence in the Italian market and boost its expansion in new geographies. "We plan to pursue an intense buy-and-build strategy aimed at creating a strong consolidation platform in the telecoms cable sector," Ghetti told Unquote. "We have already selected our first add-on, a company based in the US, operating in the cable components industry, that we plan to acquire at the beginning of next year."

The deal ends a six-year holding period for IGI. The GP initially invested €17m to acquire a 50.5% stake in Fimo (known at the time as Fimotec) in July 2014. Subsequently, the GP bought an additional 49% stake in the company in April 2015. Capital for the transaction was drawn from IGI Investimenti Cinque and co-investment fund IGI Investimenti Cinque Parallel. GE Capital, Banco Popolare and Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna provided a €15m financing package to support the deal.

Under IGI's ownership, the company increased its revenues by 70% and its EBITDA by 57%, according to the GP. Fimo inked two add-ons: Polyform, a French specialist in antenna camouflage for the mobile industry in December 2017; and DCE, an Italian producer of cables and wiring for the telecommunications industry in November 2018.

Company
Headquartered in Cologno Monzese, near Milan, Fimo is a manufacturer of coaxial cables, cable clamps, grounding kits, cable fixings and other components for the telecommunications industry.

The company has production facilities located in Italy, France and India, as well commercial and logistics operations in Germany and the US.

Fimo generated EBITDA of €7.8m from revenues of €33m in 2019, of which 80% came from outside Italy, and reported net debt of €4m.

People
Wise Equity – Stefano Ghetti (senior partner); Bruno Barago (investment manager).
Fimo – Luca Tamberi (CEO).
IGI – Matteo Cirla (CEO).

Advisers
Acquirer – Fineurop Soditic (corporate finance); Simmons & Simmons (legal); Deloitte (financial due diligence); Studio Spada Partners (tax).
Vendor – NCTM (legal); KPMG (financial due diligence); K Finance (corporate finance); Di Tanno & Associati (tax).