Ardian buys Argos-backed F2A

José Rojo
11 February 2016

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Argos Soditic, the majority owner of Italian HR and administration service F2A Group since an MBO in 2013, has fully exited its stake to Ardian in an SBO.

The secondary deal sees Ardian and the company's management team control 100% of F2A's share capital. Led by CEO Luciana Dolci, F2A's previous managers will all remain in their current roles after the deal.

Under Ardian's tenure, F2A will look to strengthen its presence in Italy by recruiting new clients. In addition, there are plans to grow via bolt-ons across the country's fragmented HR and administration segment.

The transaction marks the exit of Argos Soditic, which became a majority shareholder in F2A when it backed an MBO for the business in 2013. The takeover represented the GP's first acquisition in 2013 and the first foray in Italy to be financed via its sixth fund, which closed on its €400m hard-cap in December 2010.

Debt
The deal was supported with a debt package provided by BPM, Unicredit and Cariparma-Crédit Agricole.

Company
Created through the merger of 1962-founded FIS and Antex companies in 2006, F2A provides HR and administration services such as time and attendance records, payroll control, tax filing support and HR budgeting, among others.

Headquartered in Milan, the company employs 650 professionals and claims to have generated a €50m turnover from its existing 1,500-strong client network.

People
Ardian – Paolo Bergonzini (head of Expansion Italy); Marco Molteni (investment director); Michela Peigottu (senior investment manager); Luca Sigismondi (investment manager).
Argos Soditic – Jean-Pierre Di Benedetto (partner); Emiliano Tonelli (senior investment manager); Andrea Tiraboschi (senior associate).
F2A Group – Luciana Dolci (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Fineurop Soditic, Umberto Zanuso, Ilenia Furlanis (M&A); PwC, Emanuela Petteno, Domenico Creanza (financial due diligence); Bain, Carlo Morgavi, Andrea Isabella (commercial due diligence); Partners Studio Legale, Stefano Catenacci, Michele Ventura, Maria Persichetti (legal).
Vendor – Altium, Christian Wipf, Carlo Dawan, Alessandro Soprano, Emilio Pestarino, Jacopo Santin (M&A); LCA Studio Legale, Giovanni Carcaterra (legal); SASPI/Crowe-Horwath, Alessandro Mulinacci, Francesco Marenzi (legal); TFP Studio Associato, Sergio Sottocasa (tax); KPMG, Matteo Contini, Matteo Ennio, Bruno Nicolosi (financial due diligence); ATKearney, Andrea Majoli, Enrico Bianco, Umberto Giolito (commercial due diligence).