21 Invest takes majority stake in Energreen

21 Invest acquired a large majority of Energreen in June 2022, through its fourth Italian fund, from the Fraron family, which kept a minority. Daniele Fraron, son of one of the founders, stayed on as chief executive. Founded in the late 1990s by the brothers Lino and Ivo Fraron and based at Poiana Maggiore in the province of Vicenza, Energreen builds the machines that cut back vegetation where it must not be allowed to grow: along riverbanks, roads and motorways, and on the embankments beside them. Its principal products are self-propelled machines carrying telescopic arms, which reach over a verge or down a slope without the vehicle leaving the carriageway, and which account for more than half its revenue. Alongside them it makes remote-controlled tracked units for ground too steep to work from a cab, and the mowers and cutters they carry. Its customers are the contractors and public bodies responsible for keeping those corridors clear, work that is driven less by appearance than by risk: vegetation on a verge obscures sight lines and causes accidents, and on a riverbank it obstructs the flow and contributes to flooding. The company generated revenue of €40.6m and an EBITDA of €0–5M in 2020, and expected around 70 million euros in 2022, 70% of it abroad. It employed 150 people at a recently built plant of more than 20,000 square metres, where solar panels supply 30% of its energy. Italy accounted for about 30% of sales, the rest coming through its own subsidiaries in France, Germany and the United States, France alone representing some 40% of its European market. 21 Invest backed its international expansion, with the United States as the priority, and continued investment in its technology. The firm had encountered the Fraron family days earlier, when Aussafer Due, one of its portfolio companies, acquired a majority of Laserjet, the steel-cutting business the same brothers had founded, with the family again keeping a minority. 21 Invest was advised by Studio Cappelli RCCD on legal matters, KPMG on financial due diligence, Roland Berger on business due diligence, Studio Spada on tax, Kroll on ESG and Studio Redaelli & Associati as financial adviser. Adacta advised Energreen, with Studio Gianni & Origoni as legal counsel.