Funds advised by CVC Capital Partners (CVC) have acquired Cerved, Italy’s leading provider of business credit information for EUR1.13 billion.
Cerved, whose history goes back to 1974, was created through the successful integration of seven companies during 2008‐11. Cerved provides credit and business information to over 30,000 clients, including 90% of Italian banks and over 80% of Italy’s top 1,000 companies. Cerved has the most comprehensive database of corporate information in Italy, including corporate and financial details, payment history, customer and supplier relationships, and proprietary information sourced through its own network of interviewers. With revenues of EUR292m in 2012, the Company employs 1,020 people. The senior management team is led by Gianandrea De Bernardis, Edoardo Romeo, Roberto D’Ascanio, Giovanni Sartor, Fabio Bui, Natalia Leonardi, Stefano Matalucci, Flavio Mauri, Andrea Mignanelli, Valerio Momoni.
Gianandrea De Bernardis, CEO, says: “I am excited to work with CVC in the next phase of the development of Cerved. Our plan is to continue pursuing the growth of the business both organically and through acquisitions consistently with what we have done in the past few years. This is in line with our strategy of improving quality of services and of innovating our offer to always better serve our customers in this mission critical area.”
Giampiero Mazza, Head of CVC in Italy, says: "Cerved is a high quality business that has demonstrated the ability to grow through a most challenging economic environment. Under Bain Capital and Clessidra, Gianandrea and his team did a fantastic job in transitioning the Company from a bank-owned captive provider of credit information into an independent leader across the banking and corporate markets. We look forward to support the next phase of Cerved’s growth into adjacent markets as well as internationally.”
Luca Bassi, Managing Director at Bain Capital, says: "We are delighted to have supported Gianandrea De Bernardis and his management team in the carve out of Cerved from a group of Italian banks, its integration with Lince and Honyvem and the creation of the leading Italian business information provider. We wish the Company and CVC continued success in their growth in Italy and internationally.”
Maurizio Bottinelli, Partner at Clessidra, says: "We are glad we supported the management and the Company in achieving the leading position it currently enjoys and a strategic role in the Italian economic environment. We wish the Company, as well as its stakeholders, will benefit from further future value creation."
The completion of the transaction is subject to customary competition clearances.
