IGI Private Equity, through its subsidiary Meter S.p.A. and with the support, amongst other co-investors, of Crédit Agricole Italia via Amundi Private Equity Italia and Banca IFIS S.p.A., as well as NEVERQUIT S.r.l., announces the acquisition of 100% of Colzani Ingranaggi S.r.l. and its subsidiaries, a group active in the design and manufacture of custom gears and transmission components for heavy industrial applications. The Colzani family, founders of the Brianza-based company, has reinvested in the transaction, ensuring management continuity and the full retention of key expertise.
The transaction forms part of IGI’s strategy focused on the sustainable transition of Italian family-owned businesses, supporting them through structured industrial pathways and the creation of solid, scalable platforms, including through targeted external growth initiatives.
Meter’s acquisition of a stake in the Colzani Group is a transaction with a strong industrial focus, forming part of a development project aimed at creating an integrated platform for custom mechanical transmission systems. The transaction gives rise to a new group active in power transmission systems, founded on the complementarity between Meter’s custom bearings and Colzani’s gears and components, with the aim of consolidating its competitive positioning in the most technically complex industrial segments, while promoting Italian identity and know-how. The transaction enables the realisation of both industrial and commercial synergies, increases vertical integration and expands the Group’s offering in terms of both markets served and products.
The company, headquartered in Mariano Comense (CO), specialises in the design and manufacture of customised gears and power transmission components, intended primarily for rolling mills and steelworks, as well as for machine tools, the racing sector and power generation.
Founded in 1988, Colzani has progressively developed its expertise to become one of the very few leading players in Italy in the segment of large-diameter, highly complex components, with production characterised by ultra-small batch sizes. Its premium positioning is underpinned by a large and comprehensive machine park, which enables the company to handle all critical machining processes in-house, creating a significant point of differentiation in the market.
In 2025, Colzani generated revenues of approximately €15 million, employs over 70 staff across four production sites in Lombardy, delivering excellent performance and value for its customers.
Marco Colzani will retain his role as CEO of Colzani, whilst Ornella Colzani will continue to support the project’s development, ensuring operational and managerial continuity and facilitating the integration of the two entities. The Colzani family will reinvest in the Meter Group. This acquisition gives further impetus to the project of creating a group that is a leader at European level. The gradual strengthening of the organisational structure, including through the addition of new expertise, will enable intensive work on the identification and development of synergies. As a whole, the new Group will be able to rely on an industrial base spread across multiple production sites in Italy, the United States and China (totalling 58,000 m²), will employ over 280 staff and will be able to leverage an international commercial presence.
“I am very pleased with this first acquisition completed by Meter, just over a year after our investment. This is a significant transaction in terms of scale but above all from a strategic perspective: expanding the target market and ensuring the complementarity of the offering are two of the pillars of the Group’s M&A strategy. Italian identity, excellent technical expertise, high-quality customer service and market recognition are characteristics shared by the two companies which, I am convinced, will be able to work together on a stimulating growth and transition project,” said Andrea Bruschi, Chairman of Meter S.p.A.
“The acquisition of the Colzani Group by Meter allows us to further strengthen the individual characteristics of the two companies on the international market, sharing a commitment to increasingly high-performance technologies and offering highly specialised components. Both companies are recognised at the highest level for the quality and service they offer their customers. From the initial discussions with the Colzani family, a shared objective emerged: to make available all the experience gained over the years, leveraging the advantages of family-run management and integrating it with strategic plans, which, thanks to IGI, we will be able to complete. Our family is enthusiastic about embarking on this new adventure,” says Vittorio Musso, CEO of Meter S.p.A.
“Right from our initial discussions with Meter, there was a real connection and a shared vision for growth. Our common goal will be to provide our customers with greater technical support and to expand our range of critical components: transmission parts and bearings. Furthermore, thanks to Meter’s international distribution network and manufacturing facilities, we will be able to accelerate the internationalisation process we have been pursuing in recent years,” says Marco Colzani.
Crédit Agricole Italia (also acting as agent bank), BPER Banca and BNL BNP Paribas have made an additional capex facility available to support the completion of the acquisition.
The IGI Private Equity team, comprising Andrea Bruschi, Angelo Mastrandrea, Alessandro Castiglioni and Giovanni Morelli, acting on behalf of the funds under management, and the team at Meter S.p.A., comprising Vittorio Musso, Corrado Musso, Filippo Musso and Andrea De Giovanni, acting as purchasers, were advised by: Chiomenti on legal and contractual matters, with a team led by Luca Liistro and Arnaldo Cremona and comprising Enrica Bertoldi, Leonardo Forotan and Mariateresa Lamanna, for corporate matters, Giulia Berton and Francesca Salonia, for labour matters, as well as Andrea Martino, Angelo De Michele and Matteo Venuta for banking matters; LAW-P for tax and transaction structure matters, with a team comprising Paolo Giovannini (Senior Partner) and Giulia Giudice (Counsel); Fortlane Partners for business due diligence, with a team comprising Giovanni Calia (Managing Director), Michele Zanin (Partner) and Vlatko Atanasov; KPMG for financial due diligence, with a team comprising Lorenzo Brusa (Partner) and Gianluca Belcastro (Manager); ERM for HSE due diligence, with a team comprising Giovanni Aquaro (Partner), Marco Orecchia and Maddalena Solari; Andersen for debt advisory aspects, with a team comprising Andrea D’avanzo (Partner), Sandro Ravera Chion and Alessandro Merolla.
The Colzani family (as seller) was advised by Smart Capital’s Advisory division in its capacity as Financial Advisor, with a team led by Roberto Francani (Partner) and supported by Michele Vabanesi (Associate) and Matteo Conti (Analyst); Studio Andrea Galli provided accounting, tax and financial assistance; Greco Vitali Associati – Studio Legale handled the legal aspects, with a team led by Matteo Vitali (Partner) , Matteo Miramondi (Senior Associate) and Federico Camisotti (Junior Associate); and EY, with Partner Norberto Mariani, handled matters relating to the structuring of the transaction.
The notarial aspects of the sale were handled by Studio Notarile Ciro De Vivo, with the involvement of notary Ciro De Vivo. Chiomenti advised the lending banks with a team coordinated by Alessandro Elisio (Partner). Greenberg Traurig, with Partner Marco Leonardi and Senior Associate Cristina Cupolo, advised Green Arrow Capital Group on matters relating to the waivers and amendments to the Mezzanine Loan Agreement, originally granted in connection with the acquisition of Meter S.p.A. by IGI Private Equity, and necessary for the implementation of the sale and consolidation of Colzani.