Italian private equity manager Clessidra raises €320m for receivables fund

Italian private equity manager Clessidra has launched a fund to acquire bank credit for companies that are restructuring.

The Clessidra Restructuring Fund has already raised €320 million at first close and has acquired ‘unlikely to pay’ receivables for 14 companies based in Italy. UTPs are bank credits which do not have recovery plans, restructuring agreements or preventative agreements in place.

The debt was acquired from 10 banking and financial groups from across Italy. Clessidra said the companies are undergoing financial and industrial relaunch and restructuring but have solid business fundamentals.

It is thought the fund is aiming to raised up to €600 million and will invest any additional capital in its existing 14 portfolio companies, with money allocated to acquire bank credits and provide further investment in the businesses. Clessidra raised the money from a range of Italian institutional investors including pension funds, banks and family offices.

The combined portfolio companies have revenues of approximately €1.4 billion and an aggregate EBITDA of €50 million.

Federico Ghizzoni and Giovanni Bossi will lead the management team, joined by Massimiliano Fossati, Silvio Longari and Luca Marson.

Ghizzoni said: “With the CRF fund we want to become partners with banks, through the maximisation of the recovery rates of the credits, and a growth enabler for medium-sized Italian companies, through the new financial resources dedicated to their relaunch and development.”

Clessidra chairman Carlo Pesenti, said the launch of CRF “marks an ambitious step towards the diversification of the company’s activities, historically focused on private equity”.