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International private equity firm Tdr Capital acquires 60% of the Acqua&Sapone group, the largest Italian chain of personal hygiene, perfumery and household cleaning products.
The transfer of the majority to Tdr Capital by the shareholder, the American private equity HIG Capital, one of the big financial investors with 64 billion dollars of capital under management, was announced yesterday. The current partners, HIG and the Barbarossa family, will reinvest in the operation, who will overall have the remaining 40 percent of the shareholding structure.
The numbers
High transaction value. The entire Acqua&Sapone would have been valued, according to rumors, at a value in the range between 1.5 billion and 2 billion euros based on a photograph of the group which in 2023 saw a turnover of 1.53 billion euros (+ 20% growth over 2022) with an Ebitda of 143 million euros (percentage at 12.4%). Within the structure of the transaction, which was directed by the financial advisors Mediobanca and Deutsche Bank on behalf of Hig and Jefferies and Barclays for Tdr Capital, the launch of a bond worth approximately 850 million euros is expected.
The operation, which has already been approved by the Antitrust, stands out as an emblematic case of growth and development. The Acqua&Sapone project in fact began in October 2021, when HIG Capital entered the shareholding structure with 80% of the shares, while the remaining 20% remained with the founding partners. With the acquisition by HIG Capital, 4 companies of the Acqua&Sapone brand were brought together, which then became 6 over the following years.
The project
«The new shareholder’s project – explains Carlo Schiavo, CEO of Acqua & Sapone – will be based on continuity, including managerial continuity. Today the group already has 726 shops and sales points in Italy, where 5,500 people work, with 5 distribution centers. The long-term plan, in 2029, envisages more than doubling the turnover organically. In 2022 we opened 36 new stores, in 2023 another 40 and also in 2024 it will be approximately this number. Over 300 new employees were also hired in 2023. At the same time we redesigned the distribution network and in 2023 we opened a distribution center in Vidigulfo, in the province of Pavia, in partnership with Poste Italiane. The group is also studying an identical project in Southern Italy. Finally, the modernization of the group’s IT infrastructure is also underway.”
