Norlight Group / Castaldi Illuminazione (Italy) - Jun 2008

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01 June 2008

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Cape Natixis Private Equity Fund, managed by Cape Natixis, acquired a 22.5% stake in lighting company Castaldi Illuminazione from the Castaldi Family, in a deal valued at €2.2m. The deal was completed through a €1.4m capital increase in the Norlight group, (a company specialising in indoor technical lighting) that was acquired by Cape in November 2007. The remaining stake in Castaldi is retained by Cape (70.95%); State Street Global Advisers (SSgA) (3.55%) and the management (3%). The new shares in CN Light were subscribed to pro-quota by the current CN Light shareholders.

The Norlight group’s shares are divided between Cape with 55.7%, the management with 41.5% and SSgA which holds 2.8%.

Debt

An €800,000 senior debt package was provided by Interbanca.

Company

Trezzano sul Naviglio-based Castaldi Illuminazione was founded in 1938 by Enrico Castaldi, creator of Illuminotecnica, the first Italian lighting sector magazine, currently managed by Giorgio Castaldi. The firm leads the national market in design and production of outdoor architectural lighting. Castaldi is one of the top players in the Italian lighting sector positioned at the high-end segment of the market. The company employs a staff of 50 and achieved a turnover of €9.7m in 2007.

The investors plan to pursue an aggressive buy-and-build strategy to create a lighting group capable of offering its clients a wide array of products and services. Ideally, this development strategy would position the group for an IPO or a trade sale.

People

Emanuela Trezzi led the deal on behalf of Cape Natixis and is a member of the Norlight board and hence that of Castaldi.

Advisers

Equity - MBL & Partners, Alessandro Marena (Legal)

Sourced from: Southern Europe unquote" 76 (Jul 2008)