LONDON, 27 January 2017: Metric Capital Partners (“MCP” or “Metric”), the European private capital group, has announced today the investment by funds it advises (the “Fund”) in Gruppo Bancario Mediterraneo (“GBM” or the “Bank”), an Italian regional bank.
GBM is a regional commercial bank with headquarters in Rome and three branches in Italy. Historically GBM has been focused on traditional lending to local small-medium enterprises. As a result of continued losses and erosion of the capital base, in October 2015 the Bank of Italy put GBM under its extraordinary administration regime with the objective of seeking an institutional investor to rescue the Bank.
In the transaction, the Fund has effected a recapitalization of GBM resulting in the Fund obtaining the controlling shareholding of the Bank. The recapitalization allows GBM to exit the extraordinary administration and it establishes a solid capital base on which to strategically reposition GBM as a “new generation” specialty lender in Italy.
Metric has partnered with Filippo Cortesi and Nicola Bonito-Oliva, founders of Wave Securities (“Wave”), who have personally invested in the transaction alongside the Fund. Wave is an independent financial firm based in London, with offices in Rome and Lisbon, focusing on alternative assets, non-performing loans and distressed investments. Following the transaction, Filippo Cortesi has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of GBM and Nicola Bonito-Oliva has joined the board as non-executive director together with John Sinik and Fabio Andreottola as MCP representatives. The new board of GBM also includes an independent non-executive director, Giorgio Salvo, who has recently completed a forty year career with Bank of Italy in a number of senior roles.
Fabio Andreottola, Partner of MCP, commented on the transaction: “GBM provides an attractive platform to build a well-capitalised, modern and efficient specialised lender to capture the significant opportunities provided by the Italian market. We are delighted to partner with Filippo and Nicola, whose extensive expertise in the Italian specialty lending market will be a key driver of the relaunch of GBM.”
Filippo Cortesi, newly appointed CEO of GBM added: “This transaction opens up an exciting new phase for GBM. I am very pleased with the trust the new shareholders have put into the project. This is further evidence of the interest from international investors in the Italian economy and its banking system, which will benefit from the competences of sophisticated institutional investors. Our mission will be to provide specialized lending to the Italian market, focusing on innovation and efficiency.”
John Sinik, Managing Partner of MCP, further commented: “GBM is Metric’s first investment in Italy, and provides access to what we consider one of the most attractive sectors in the country for a new generation lender. Furthermore, the nature of the transaction showcases MCP’s ability to deliver capital solutions in complex situations.”
MCP is an independent private capital group that invests in European small and medium-sized firms by providing debt and equity solutions to support the execution of strategic transactions including MBOs, MBIs, growth/development capital, refinancing and rescue financing.
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For further information please contact:
John Sinik, Managing Partner, Metric Capital Partners, Tel: +44 203 540 1558
Fabio Andreottola, Partner, Metric Capital Partners, Tel: +44 203 540 1559