Bregal Unternehmerkapital acquires Italgel

The Vezza family, who were Italgel’s previous majority owners, are to invest part of their proceeds from the buyout for a minority stake in the company.

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket first reported in July 2021 that family-owned Italgel was up for the sale, with sponsors including Chequers, Clessidara, Peak Rock and Stirling Square joining the first round.

In November 2021, Mergermarket reported that Italgel had received more than twice the number of preliminary bids that it expected, amounting to around 20 offers. At the start of April, Mergermarket reported that Ambienta and Bregal were competing for exclusivity on the deal.

Italgel was marketed based on projected 2022 EBITDA of EUR 30m and was valued at more than EUR 300m, sources told Mergermarket.

Bregal declined to comment.

Bregal is deploying equity via Bregal Unternehmerkapital III which held a final close in March 2021 on EUR 1.875bn. The fund invests in sectors including technology, healthcare and business services, investing EUR 50m-EUR 250m in equity per deal and targeting mid-market companies. It has now made nine investments.

Banco BPM acted as sole underwriter to finance the deal, Bregal said in a statement.

According to the same statement, Bregal plans to invest in increasing Italgel’s production capacity, as well as consolidating its marketing position organically and via bolt-ons.

Prior to its acquisition of Italgel, Bregal made its first Italy-based deal via the acquisition of traffic monitoring software developer Safety21 in October 2021.

Company
Founded in 1968 by the Vezza family and headquartered in Santa Vittoria d’Alba, Italgel produces gelatine and collagen-based specialty ingredients for the food and pharmaceutical industries. Its products are used in confectionary and baker products, as well as in gums sweets and marshmallows. For the pharmaceutical industry, the company produces gelatine capsules that are designed to safeguard the active ingredients of the drugs they contain.

Italgel is expected to is expected to post revenues of EUR 100m in 2022, 90% of which is accounted for by exports, according to a report from Italian publication II Sole 24 Ore. Italgel generated EUR 13.8m of EBITDA on EUR 71.4m in revenue in 2020, according to Mergermarket.

People
Bregal Unternehmerkapital – Valentina Pippolo (partner, head of Italy).
Italgel – Sandra Vezza (chairman, CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Mediobanca (M&A); Alvarez & Marsal (financial due diligence); Fineurop (debt advisory); Studio Legale Pedersoli (legal); Bonelli Erede (legal).
Vendor – Colombo & Associati (M&A); Gitti & Partners (legal, tax); Deloitte (financial due diligence).
Debt – Simmons & Simmons (legal).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Southern Europe
• Consumer
• Italy
• Bregal Capital