B&S acquires Autogru

B&S Private Equity, the Italian equity house has acquired Italian crane manufacturer Autogru PM by way of an E40m management buy-in.

The  transaction has been partially financed by Banca Popolare dell’Emilia Romagna and Banca Mediocredito (Gruppo Unicredito), who provided debt for the deal.

Founded in Modena in the 1950s, Autogru achieved turnover last year of E49m, reporting EBIT of approximately E4m. The firm has a market share of 20 per cent and has averaged ten per cent growth during the last decade.

B&S Private Equity Group is looking to grow Autogru through a series of acquisitions both in the crane manufacturing and related sectors. Marco Milesi, formerly of Dow Chemical and Brembo has taken a minority investment in Autogru and becomes the firm’s chief executive.

At the beginning of June, B&S led the acquisition of Italian olive oil manufacturer Carapelli in a E101m deal. B&S acquired a 59 per cent stake in the business alongside Arca Impresa Gestioni SGR (Arca) and the banking group Monte dei Paschi di Siena, who acquiring 27 per cent. Both investments come from the firm’s Italian Private Equity Fund III, the E300m fund which it raised from Italian institutional investors in 1999.