COMPAGNIE NATIONALE A PORTEFEUILLE invests in CAFFITALY

Compagnie Nationale à Portefeuille, the Belgian holding company controlled by Albert Frère, agreed on 14 July 2017 to take a 49% stake in Caffitaly, the Bologna-based maker of coffee machines and capsules, in a deal valuing the company at an enterprise value of . Alpha Private Equity, which had held 63% of Caffitaly since 2013 with management owning the rest, reinvested alongside CNP and kept control of the business with chairman and founder Sergio Zappella. The transaction remained subject to antitrust clearance. At the time of the deal, Caffitaly generated revenue of €141.6M and an EBITDA of €40.1M, an EBITDA margin of 28.3%, after several years of growth that had also cut its net financial debt by almost half between 2014 and 2015. Alpha, led by managing partner Edoardo Lanzavecchia, had mandated Lazard in March 2017 to run an auction for the company, which competes with Nespresso through its own portioned coffee technology. The process drew interest from both industrial groups and international private equity funds before CNP was selected. Cleary Gottlieb advised Alpha on the corporate and competition aspects of the transaction.