Bc Partners has agreed to acquire a majority interest in the Cigierre, Compagnia Generale Ristorazione, the Italian casual dining chain which operates under the brand Old Wild West. The company, which is the leading name in Italy’s casual dining sector, has been valued about 300 million euro and the buyout will be supported by a 150 million euro loan, arranged by Unicredit.
The sellers in the transaction, which include L. Capital and Paladin Capital Partners while the paneuropean private equity firm, Bc Partners, under Cigierre’s financial advisor Rotschild, signed an agreement to acquire an 85% stake in the capital. Therefore Cigierre is now controlled by private equity firms L Capital(36.27%), Paladin Capital Partners (33.78%), the same fund controlling the Modena-based Fini group, and Camelot Holding (25.35%), while the rest of the capital is owned by the founder and ceo Marco Di Giusto. The three private equity funds will exit their entire stakes while Di Giusto will reinvest in the company, along with other private investors.
Founded in 1995 in Udine, Cigierre is the leading company in Italy in the casual dining sector, operating more than 180 casual dining restaurants across the country, both directly operated and through franchising. The company offers food from a variety of international cuisines at affordable prices through different formats, including the popular Old Wild West and Wiener Haus brands. Cigierre has grown at an impressive rate over the past four years, opening 70 new restaurants and delivering revenue and an ebitda with a growth rate of about 40% per year. Now Cigierre is expected to reach 130 million euro in revenues this year.
The other player of the deal is BC Partners, the private equity fund which has already been investing in Italy for almost 30 years. Most recently, for example, it has been present through its investment in the Italian leading retailers Coin and Ovs, with the latter that has been successfully listed on the Milan Stock Exchange earlier this year. But Bc Partners has strong casual dining expertise, having recently acquired Côte Restaurants, one of UK’s fastest growing restaurant chains
