Alantra advised Gilde Buyout Partners on the sale of Riri Group to Chequers Capital

Oct 2018

Sell-side advisory

Alantra has advised Gilde Buy Out Partners (hereinafter referred to as “Gilde”) and the management team, on the sale of Riri Group (“Riri” or “the Company”), to Chequers Capital (“Chequers”). The companies announced the transaction today. The transaction is expected to close at the end of November.

Founded 80 years ago and headquartered in Mendrisio (Switzerland), Riri is a worldwide leading brand for luxury zippers and buttons. Through its dedicated production sites located at the Company’s headquarters in Mendrisio, as well as in Padova, Tirano and Palazzolo Sull’Oglio (all Italy), Riri can offer fully integrated and highly customized product solutions to its long-standing customer base of prestigious global luxury designers. Alantra initiated and advised the acquisition of Riri by Gilde and the management team in 2014. Alantra now acted as the M&A adviser to the current shareholders and ran an international auction process involving both strategics and private equity firms. At Alantra, the M&A teams in Frankfurt and Milan led the sale process, supported by its global offices for local buyer access.

“Riri has been a very successful investment for funds advised by Gilde and the sale of Riri marks the third successful transaction for Gilde led by Alantra within the last five years after the divestiture process for Hofmann Menü and the acquisition of Riri four years ago. Alantra ran a well-structured process, combined with a comprehensive lender education, leading to an outstanding result. We have been impressed by Alantra’s deep knowledge of the industry, their strong cross-office team and the commitment of the involved persons throughout the process”, said Rogier Engelsma, Partner at Gilde.

“We have much enjoyed working with the Alantra team again. We have been in a dialogue since 2014 on the further development of the Company. I have been impressed by their understanding of our business and the commitment that the entire cross-border team of Alantra provided throughout the whole process”, said Renato Usoni, CEO of Riri.

Lorenzo Astolfi, Managing Partner at Alantra, added, that “working together with Renato, his colleagues and the Gilde team over a period of more than four years has helped us to develop Riri‘s equity story not only shortly before the sale process started but over a longer time period. Understanding the business drivers of Riri and the market dynamics were key in executing the transaction swiftly and supporting the management during the due diligence phase”.

The Alantra team advising Gilde included amongst others Wolfram Schmerl (Managing Partner, Germany), Lorenzo Astolfi (Managing Partner, Italy) and Christoph Handrup (Managing Director). The deal team was supported by local bankers from Switzerland, the US and China.