The sector of food supplements to strengthen the immune system, which has been racing since the outbreak of Covid, has signed a major M&A operation in Italy. The French private equity group Ardian, with 120 billion assets under management, has acquired 70% of Biofarma Group, a company based in Mereto di Tomba (Udine), specialized in the production of food supplements, medical devices and cosmetics, born in 2020 from the merger between Nutrilinea and Biofarma, both controlled by White Bridge investments. Ardian, according to what milanofinanza.it has ascertained, has valued the Friulian group of 1.1 billion euro of enterprise value, of which 70% corresponds to approximately 0.78 billion.
The news was announced a couple of days ago by Reuters. The Italian supplement market, according to Intermonte, is the most important in Europe, with over 4 billion in aggregate turnover. The Scarpa family (Germano Scarpa and Gabriella Tavasani) will keep the current 30% stake in the group, as Ardian’s partner on the project. Maurizio Castorina will continue to lead the company as CEO. Under his leadership, Biofarma has grown in the reference market through a process of aggregation of complementary companies. Since 2016, the company has grown from around 30 million to over 230 million in turnover (2021), thanks to organic growth and M&A activity (five acquisitions in four years).
Biofarma, on the other hand, closed 2020 with a consolidated production value of 189 million euros, an ebitda of 37 million and a net financial debt of 85.7 million. To date, almost 50% of the turnover is developed on international markets. The Udine group has 800 employees and 170 production lines in four production plants distributed between Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy and Veneto. White Bridge Investments currently holds 70% of the shares of Biofarma, while the remaining 30% belongs to Germano Scarpa and Gabriella Tavasani, former owners of Biofarma. White Bridge had invested in Nutrilinea in September 2017, while it had acquired Biofarma in December 2019. For Ardian this is the second investment in the sector in six months after the one in the Swedish Recipharm.
“The operation with Ardian will allow the Biofarma group to become the first global player specialized in the nutraceutical sector”, commented the president, Germano Scarpa. “Furthermore, the new resources will allow us to continue the path of growth and aggregation achieved in recent years thanks to the support of White Bridge Investments, evaluating new interesting opportunities for international expansion in Europe, in the Apac area and in the United States”. “The partnership with Ardian will facilitate the path of further consolidation and international development by continuing to invest in technological excellence, diversification of the offer, formulation of new products and at the same time safeguarding the current corporate culture”, commented Biofarma.
Nomura (with Umberto Giacometti and Francesco Bertocchini) supported Ardian in the transaction as financial advisor and loan provider, alongside Bnp Paribas and Mediobanca. On the debt front, the consultant was Houlihan Lokey, while they have operators as legal advisors Gianni & Origoni, Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Gattai, Minoli, Partners (financing). The due diligence was carried out by BCG, PricewaterhouseCoopers (financial due diligence), Gitti and Partners (Tax Due Diligence & Advisor), Tauw (Esg & Environmental Due Diligence). White Bridge Investments was joined by Matteo Canonaco (Canson Capital) and Fausto Rinallo (Ethica Group) as M&A Co-Advisors, by avv. Matteo Delucchi – Giovannelli & Associati as Legal Advisors, by Paolo Ludovici and Michele Aprile – Gatti, Pavesi, Bianchi and Ludovici as Tax Advisor, by Marco Bastasin – Deloitte as Vendor Financial Due Diligence. Instead, the Scarpa family made use of Molaro – Pezzetta – Romanelli – Del Fabbro & Partners as consultants in the Financial, Tax and Legal areas. (All rights reserved)
