H.I.G. Europe enters in Berardi Bullonerie: the advisors

 

Milan, 3 February, 2022 – H.I.G. Europe, led in Italy by Raffaele Legnani and with a team composed by Giovanni Guglielmi, Gian Matteo Franzoia and Giovanni Cabassi, executed the acquisition from the Berardi family, through a buy out transaction, of a controlling stake in the group referring to Berardi Bullonerie S.r.l., which is a leading operator in the Italian market of the distribution of fixing elements and of the supply of integrated logistic services.

 

Since its establishment in 1919 the Berardi Group is the go-to partner for Italian industrial companies for the supply of just-in-time standard and custom fixing elements and, more recently, for the designing and realization of integrated logistic programs with Kanban system.

 

All corporate and M&A aspects of the transaction were managed, on behalf of the buyer, by the Law firm Pavia e Ansaldo with a team coordinated by the partner Alberto Bianco and made up by Martina Villa, Erica Lepore, Martina Bosi, Giulio Nobile and Biancamaria Veronese, along with the partner Valentina Simonelli with Giulia Duso and Rosie Schifino, for labour law aspects, and by the partner Filippo Fioretti with Maria Rosaria Raspanti for antitrust matters.

 

The Firm Spada Partners, with a team formed by the partner Guido Sazbon and by the senior associate Francesco Podagrosi, on behalf of the buyer, managed the drafting of the structure memorandum of the transaction, while the financial and tax aspects of the transaction have been managed by a PwC team made up of Emanuela Petteno’ and Giorgio Gorla (PwC Deals) and Marco Vozzi and Serena Scalabrini (PwC TLS).

 

The Firm Orrick managed, on behalf of the buyer, all banking matters of the transaction with a team led by the partner Marina Balzano and composed by the senior associate Giulio Asquini and by Valentina Bombino, supported by the special counsel Giovanni Leoni for tax matters. Lincoln International, with a  team made up of Daniele Candiani, Matteo Cupello and Giorgio Raimondi, assisted the buyer as debt advisor.

 

The Berardi family, who maintains a minority shareholding in the group and reinvests alongside HIG, was assisted by the Law firm BLF, with a team coordinated by the partners Roberto Ludergnani and Andrea Corbelli and by Francesco Ludergnani, for legal aspects, by Vitale e Co., with a team coordinated by the partner Riccardo Martinelli and by the managing director Francesco Fornarelli, as financial advisor, by the Firm Romani Gambini Cenni Menetti, with a team coordinated by the partner Massimo Gambini and composed by Matteo Cocchi and Laura Ladisa, for corporate and tax aspects, and by Deloitte Financial Advisory, with a team formed by the partner Tamara Laudisio and by the Director Vincenzo Depetro for the vendor financial due diligence.

 

The transaction was financially supported by Equita, assisted by Dentons, with a team formed by the partner Alessandro Fosco Fagotto, by the managing counsel Edoardo Galeotti and by the associate Rosalba Pizzicato along with a pool of banks composed by Oldenburgische Landesbank Aktiengesellschaft, Banca Ifis S.p.A., Crédit Agricole Italia S.p.A. and Deutsche Bank S.p.A., assisted by Ashurst, with a team led by the partner Mario Lisanti and formed by: for banking aspects under Italian law, the counsel Luca Chieffo, the associates Francesca Cioppi and Beatrice Melito, and the trainees Amedeo Bardelli and Aurora Pignalosa; for tax matters under Italian law, the partner Michele Milanese and the trainee Simone Ferrucci; and, for banking aspects under English law, the partner Ross Ollerhead and the senior associate Tamsin Crawford.