Gradiente buys Arcansas

Alessia Argentieri
04 September 2020

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Private equity firm Gradiente has acquired Arcansas, an Italian manufacturer of profiles for walls and floors.

The GP backed the business alongside investment holding company La Finanziaria Trentina. They bought a stake of around 60%, while the remainder was retained by the founding Scriattoli family.

Gradiente plans to support the organic growth of the company, by expanding its retail channels and doubling its revenues, while pursuing a buy-and-build strategy with acquisitions of Italian and international companies operating in complementary segments of the market.

Banco BPM provided a debt package to support the transaction, with Simmons & Simmons acting as legal adviser to the lender.

The GP deployed capital from Gradiente II, which held a final close on its €135m hard-cap, surpassing its €120m initial target, in February 2019.

This is the fourth investment made by the fund, following the purchase of metal components producer HPF; the acquisition of an 80% stake in fridges manufacturer Cold Line, which was sold to Nice Group in May 2019; and the recent purchase of three companies specialising in surface coating: Argos, Aalberts Surface Treatment Italy and Impreglon Italia.

Company
Established in 1980, Arcansas is a manufacturer of profiles for walls and floors. Its products are designed to join and protect the outer corners of ceramic tiles, and also to decorate and enhance wall and floor coverings, and the laying of mosaics and tiles.

The company employs 100 staff and generates EBITDA of around €7m from annual revenues of €30m, of which 50% comes from outside Italy.

Arcansas is headquartered in Terre Roveresche, with two production plants located in Mondavio and Piagge, five additional branches outside Italy and operations in 30 countries worldwide.

People
Gradiente – Carlo Bortolozzo, Pietro Busnardo (founding partners).
Arcansas – Amedeo Scriattoli (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – NCTM (legal); Russo De Rosa (tax); PwC (financial due diligence); GEA Consulenti (operational due diligence); Marsh Risk Consulting (environmental due diligence).
Company – Studio Guerra & Associati (tax); Ceccarelli & Silverstri (legal).