Clessidra acquires Impresoft

Wahida Ahmed
22 December 2021

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Italy-based Clessidra has acquired a controlling stake in Impresoft Group, an Italian enterprise management software group, from Xenon Private Equity.

According to a press release, the senior management team of Impresoft, which is predominantly made up of founders of the group, will keep a significant stake in the company. Italmobiliare will participate in the transaction as a co-investor.

Clessidra is investing via Clessidra Capital Partners IV. According to Unquote Data, Clessidra Capital Partners IV was launched in November 2020 with a EUR 500m target and a hard-cap of EUR 600m. A first close was held in June 2021 on EUR 270m. A source close told Unquote that the fund expects to hold a final close toward the end of 2022. The fund expects to acquire majority and minority stakes in Italian mid-market companies but it has reserved up to 20% to invest in other European countries. It will deploy equity tickets of around EUR 40m-100m and will make 8-10 platform investments.

This deal marks the third investment for the fund.

Mergermarket reported earlier this month that Impresoft was expected to have an enterprise value between 9x-11x its 2021 EBITDA, which is forecasted at more than EUR 18.2m on EUR 90m in revenues. Rothschild and LCA were Impresoft's respective financial and legal advisers on the process, which kicked off in September. Finalists included Clessidra, ICG, Engineering and an undisclosed fund; suitors involved at earlier stages included Chequers and Oakley, as reported.

Company
Impresoft was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Milan. The group was formed via the merger of four ICT companies: 4ward, Brainware, Gruppo Formula and Qualitas Informatica.

Xenon acquired a 60% stake in Impresoft in November 2019; at the time the group had a combined turnover of EUR 55m and EBITDA of EUR 11m, according to Mergermarket.

Impresoft has a workforce of more than 700 people. It has grown organically and also by acquiring companies in its sectors, including Formula Impresoft, 4wardPRO, Qualitas Informatica, NextTech, OpenSymbol, NextCRM and GN Techonomy.

The group provides technology and consultancy services for business applications to mid-sized companies. It has both proprietary and third-party software solutions.

People
Clessidra - Andrea Ottaviano (CEO);Marco Carotenuto (managing director); Maurizio Fanetti (investment director); Lorenzo Cascione (associate).
Impresoft Group – Ann Smith (CEO); Antonello Morina (shareholder).

Advisers
Equity - Labs Corporate Finance (M&A); Ethica Group (M&A); Advant NCTM (legal); Alix (financial due diligence); PwC (financial due diligence); Alonzo Committeri & Partners (tax).
Vendor - Rothschild (M&A); LCA (legal); EY (financial due diligence).