Wise Equity announces that its closed-end Wise Equity V Fund has acquired Fi.Mo.Tec S.p.A. from IGI Private Equity – manager of the IGI Investimenti Cinque and Cinque Parallel funds.

Fi.Mo.Tec, headquartered in Cologno Monzese (MI), is the European leader in components (particularly cable fastening systems) and systems for mobile telecommunications infrastructure. The Group prides itself on an eighty-year history of success distinguished by its deep commitment to place its innovative know-how and technologically advanced products at the service of its clients.

The Group has a widespread international presence, with its headquarters and production plants in Italy, France and India and commercial and logistics sites in Germany and the United States. Fi.mo.tec generates approximately Euro 33 million in revenues, more than 80% of which derive from international markets.

Management of the group will continue to be led by Luca Tamberi, currently the CEO and a shareholder.

The acquisition was overseen for Wise Equity by Stefano Ghetti, Partner and Bruno Barago, Investment Manager and for IGI Private Equity by the Managing Partner Matteo Cirla, the Partner Angelo Mastrandrea and the Investment Manager Cristian Cantaluppi, who has covered the role of CFO in the company for over two years.

Stefano Ghetti, Senior Partner at Wise Equity, said “Fi.Mo.Tec is an example of Italian excellence – a company that enjoys a competitive position of absolute leadership in Europe with a significant and growing presence in the United States. It is one of those rare cases in which a product is so well known and successful that it is referred to by the company name.

Our objective, together with the management team, is to continue along the growth path started in recent years, to develop in markets where the company’s presence is still limited (as in the United States) and to invest in complementary products. The company has, in fact, developed significant expertise in the world of concealing and passive subsystems that we will reinforce, including through selected acquisitions.”

Matteo Cirla, CEO and Managing Partner of IGI Private Equity, stated “We are very happy with the work done in Fi.Mo.Tec and we thank all the group’s employees and collaborators for their extraordinary commitment. From the time of the acquisition of 100% of the share capital to today, the company has grown 70% in terms of revenues and 57% in terms of gross operating margin after having almost completely repaid the acquisition financing.

The investment in Fi.Mo.Tec is an excellent example of IGI Private Equity’s strategy: we acquired an excellent company from family owners and invested significantly in human capital and acquisitions, rationalizing the entire organization and the company’s procedures. Thanks to this clear strategy, we leave a group that is a leader in its reference sector, has an excellent management team and solid strategic and competitive positioning.”

Luca Tamberi, current and future Fi.Mo.Tec CEO declared “We are very happy to be able to continue with Wise Equity along the growth path started with IGI and aim to further position ourselves as one of the leading actors in the telecommunications and data connection sectors.

In the past few years, we have strengthened our commercial offering by introducing new product lines that anticipate our clients’ needs within a sector that can expect rapid growth in the future.

With Wise Equity’s support and with the commitment of the entire management team, we feel even more prepared to tackle the exciting challenges that lay ahead and to pursue the growth opportunities in our markets.”

Advisors:

Wise Equity was assisted in the acquisition by: Fineurop Soditic, advisor for buy side M&A and debt structure led by partners Germano Palumbo and Umberto Zanuso with the assistance of Francesco Panizza (associate partner), Maria Pia Biguzzi and Martina Zanellato; Simmons & Simmons for legal assistance (with the partners Andrea Accornero, Alessandro Bonazzi and Ida Montanaro); Deloitte for the accounting and fiscal due diligence (Giorgio Orlandini, Luca Zesi, Giuseppe De Blasi and Francesco Paggini); Studio Spada Partners for the deal structure (Guido Sazbon and Francesco Podragrosi).

IGI Private Equity was assisted in the sale by: K Finance, as transaction advisor, led by the partner Filippo Guicciardi with the assistance of Maximiliano Turelli and Claudia Brisciana; NCTM for legal assistance with the partner Matteo Trapani, Michele Motta and Martina Villa; Di Tanno & Associati for the fiscal due diligence and transaction fiscal issues with the team led by partner Ottavia Alfano assisted by Antonio Cuoco and Luca Bocchetti; KPMG for the financial due diligence led by partner Lorenzo Brusa and Matteo

Banks supporting the transaction are Banco BPM as agent bank and financing bank with the Financial Sponsor structure led by Federico Born and a deal team composed of Salvatore Marchese and Fabiana Cornacchini, Credit Agricole Italia with the Finanza d’Impresa structure led by Gianluca Pagano and a deal team composed of Paolo Catarozzo and Simone Ferrari, Intesa Sanpaolo as financing bank with the Corporate Finance group led by Giuseppe Ferraro and a deal team composted of Laura Airoldi and Simone Stefanetti.

The lending agreement was overseen for Wise Equity by Simmons & Simmons with Davide D’Affronto and Alessandro Elisio and for the financing banks by Dentons with Alessandro Fosco Fagotto, Edoardo Galeotti and Matteo Mosca.