Italcer completes the acquisition of Fondovalle, a leader in large slabs, confirming the role of aggregator of premium ceramic companies
Milan, 5 October 2022
Italcer group, one of the Italian leaders in the ceramic tiles and bathroom furniture sector, today completed the acquisition of Ceramica Fondovalle (“Fondovalle”), a company specializing in the production of large slabs, which has been operating in the Sassuolo district for over 50 years.
By acquiring this company (which is about to close 2022 with approximately Euro 50 million in turnover and 8.5 million EBITDA), Italcer becomes one of the Italian producers with the widest range of products, ranging from small tiles to large slabs to about three meters long.
The acquisition is the seventh carried out by the Group led by Graziano Verdi, which sees Mindful Capital Partners as the reference shareholder, together with Miura Partners. The acquisition of Fondovalle follows the previous acquisitions of La Fabbrica, Elios, Devon & Devon, Rondine, Cedir and the Spanish Equipe Ceramicas.
With this further expansion of its perimeter, the Group should reach a turnover of over Euro 330 million in 2022 and EBITDA of almost Euro 80 million.
Lorenzo Stanca, managing partner of Mindful Capital and president of the Group, declared “With the acquisition of Fondovalle, Italcer confirms itself as a leader in a sector in which Italy is a leader in the world. The Group has external growth in its DNA, ever since we developed the idea with Graziano Verdi and my partner Alberto Forchielli. In this sense, we can say that Fondovalle, although it represents an important step, is certainly not the last of the acquisitions for Italcer”.
Graziano Verdi, Group CEO, declared: “It had been a long time that we wanted to internalize the production of large slabs, a very promising segment in which we are already present with the AVA brand. Fondovalle has great credibility on the market and we are sure we will be able to further enhance its positioning. Our ADVANCE® anti-bacterial and anti-viral technology will be one of the levers for rapidly gaining market share in slabs, especially in the furniture segment”.
The transaction was financed with a tap-issuance of the bond subscribed by Pemberton, Equita, Green Arrow Capital and Azimut Libera Impresa. Assisting Italcer, in the role of M&A advisor, there was KT&Partners, with a team led by Kevin Tempestini. For the legal aspects, the Group was assisted by Legance, with the team led by Marco Gubitosi, while PWC held the role of debt advisor, with the team led by Alessandro Azzolini.
For the sellers (shareholders representing the majority stake), the advisor on the M&A transaction was Labs, with Augusto Lippi and Chiara Leoni. The law firms were Botti, Pagani & Partners and Cerina Studio Legale for the majority shareholders, and Studio Visconti for the minority.
KPMG, with the team led by Andrea Longoni, was in charge of the Financial, Business, Tax and ESG Due Diligence.
