MILAN, December 15, 2016 – Mercury UK Holdco Limited, the majority shareholder of Istituto Centrale delle Banche Popolari Italiane S.p.A. (“ICBPI”) and itself owned by a consortium of funds managed by Advent International, Bain Capital Private Equity and Clessidra, has today completed the acquisition of Setefi Services S.p.A., ("Setefi Processing") and Intesa Sanpaolo Card d.o.o. ("ISP Card"), (together "ISP Processing") from Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A (“Intesa Sanpaolo”) for an equity value of €1,035 million.
Setefi Processing, based in Milan, is the Italian payment processing platform of Intesa Sanpaolo, one of Europe’s leading banking groups and Italy’s number one commercial bank. ISP Card is the payment processing platform of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Central and Eastern European business and operates in nine countries including Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary and Romania. Together, these platforms support a comprehensive portfolio of products including a broad range of payment card types for Intesa Sanpaolo’s end customers.
Commenting on the announcement, Luca Bassi, Managing Director, Bain Capital Private Equity, said, “We remain excited about this transaction and the growth of the payments industry in which we have deep Italian and global expertise. We have consistently partnered with leading banks to maximise the potential of their payments assets and look forward to doing so with Intesa Sanpaolo.”
Francesco Casiraghi, Director, Advent International added, “We are delighted to have completed our acquisition of ISP Processing. We look forward to partnering with Intesa Sanpaolo and the management team to drive long-term growth in the business through investing further in technological innovation and broadening the company’s service offering for its customers. With our financial support and strong track record in payments processing, we believe that ISP Processing is now well placed to pursue and achieve its ambitious growth strategy.”
Simone Cucchetti, Managing Director of Clessidra, said, “We believe this will be a mutually successful transaction and look forward to partnering with Italy’s leading bank. This is further evidence of our track record in building innovative partnerships with banks in the payment industry.”
The consortium was advised by the following firms: Mediobanca, PriceWaterHouseCoopers, Bain & Company, First Annapolis, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Gitti & Partners, Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati, Kirkland & Ellis, Wolf Theiss, Studio Carbonetti, Leitner Leitner and Alix Partners.
About Mercury UK Holdco Limited
Mercury UK Holdco Limited is a UK incorporated company which is the holding company of ICBPI. It also provides accounting, treasury and bond reporting services to Mercury Bondco plc, a company incorporated in Jersey in connection with the acquisition by funds managed by Advent International Corporation, Bain Capital Investors, LLC and Clessidra Capital Partners 3 of a majority shareholding in ICBPI.
About Advent International
Founded in 1984, Advent International is one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors. The firm has invested in more than 315 private equity transactions in 40 countries and, as of June 30, 2016, it had €36 billion in assets under management. With offices on four continents, Advent has established a globally integrated team of over 190 investment professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. The firm focuses on investments in five core sectors, including business and financial services; healthcare; industrial; retail, consumer and leisure; and technology, media and telecom. After more than 30 years dedicated to international investing, Advent remains committed to partnering with management teams to deliver sustained revenue and earnings growth for its portfolio companies. For more information, visit www.adventinternational.com.
About Bain Capital Private Equity
Bain Capital Private Equity (www.baincapitalprivateequity.com) has partnered closely with management teams to provide the strategic resources that build great companies and help them thrive since our founding in 1984. Our global team of more than 400 investment professionals creates value for our portfolio companies through our global platform and depth of expertise in key vertical industries including consumer/retail, financial and business services, healthcare, industrials, and technology, media and telecommunications. In addition to private equity, Bain Capital invests across asset classes including credit, public equity and venture capital, and leverages the firm’s shared platform to capture opportunities in strategic areas of focus.
About Clessidra
Founded in 2003, Clessidra is the leading manager of private equity funds dedicated to the Italian market, with assets under management of c.€2.5 billion. Clessidra is part of Italmobiliare S.p.A., the Italian Investment Holding controlled by the Pesenti Family. Since inception, Clessidra has completed 21 transactions and 14 add-ons to the Funds’ portfolio companies, with a total investment of over €18 billion EV and €1.8 billion equity. With many investments completed in market leading companies, Clessidra has a successful track record, through an active management of investments and an approach oriented to the partnership with entrepreneurs and management and the value creation over medium to long-term horizon. For more information, visit www.clessidrasgr.it.
