For an Italian coffee that he buys in France (Lavazza with Maxi-Coffee), there is also another that the French buy instead. It happens with the La San Marco professional espresso machines, sold by the Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group (Mzbg) to the French multinational of small appliances Groupe Seb. Founded in 1920, La San Marco is an Italian company that produces professional coffee machines and grinders, pioneer and leader in the lever system segment. Before the complete acquisition, the capital of the company, which manufactures most of its products in Gradisca d’Isonzo (Gorizia), was 85.3% controlled by Massimo Zanetti, 9.6% by minority shareholders, with 5 .1% treasury shares. As of September 2022, it had achieved an annual turnover of 17.2 million euros, of which 53% abroad, and employed 94 people.
Focus on Italy
The sale by Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group represents the continuation of the current strategic plan, aimed at refocusing its initiatives on core-business activities related to the production and global distribution of coffee. «We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with SEB, a renowned company in the sector, with which a functional collaboration is foreseen to continue the global development of La San Marco for the next few years – says Massimo Zanetti, President of Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group – . This agreement will also allow our Group, which in 2022 exceeded 1.4 billion in turnover, to focus on its core business, to seize the growth potential of our international brands, including the Segafredo brand, synonymous with Italian espresso coffee since 1960, and at the same time to develop new trends in local markets, thanks to our identity capable of merging tradition with new trends market”.
Strengthen
«We are delighted with the acquisition of La San Marco, which will allow Groupe Seb to consolidate its activities in the professional coffee segment with recognized historical know-how and a real complement to the existing offer», echoed Thierry de La Tour d’Artaise, president of Seb. “This acquisition – he added – is in line with the group’s desire to accelerate its development in the rapidly growing and particularly profitable professional market segment”. For his part, Massimo Zanetti, president of Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group, said he was convinced that the operation «will strengthen the global development of La San Marco, allowing us to work in synergy with the Groupe Seb teams» and «it will also allow us to focus on our core business and to seize the growth potential of our international brands. In 2022, Groupe SEB recorded a turnover in the professional sector of 725 million euros, an increase of 15.6%, of which 9.2% was organic growth. The professional sector represents 10% of Seb’s global turnover.
The advisors
During the transaction, Deloitte Financial Advisory assisted Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group SpA as exclusive financial advisor, with a team composed of Elio Milantoni (Partner), Luca Guizzetti (Director), Nicolò Arduino (Assistant Manager), Caterina Visioli (Analyst ) and Alessio Montella (Analyst). Deloitte also assisted Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group SpA for the vendor due-diligence aspects with the partner Luca Zesi for the financial part and the partner Giorgio Orlandini for the tax part. BonelliErede acted as legal advisor to Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group SpA with a team led by partner Vittoria Giustiniani and made up of the Managing Associate Alessandro Capogrosso, the Associate Lorenzo Santambrogio, the Associate Giulia Raffaelli and the Associate Filippo Emanuele Sani. The buyer, on the other hand, was assisted by BNP Paribas as financial advisor. Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati acted as legal advisor to the buyer with a team led by the co-managing partner Massimo Di Terlizzi, assisted by the Associate Partner Fabrizio De Luca and by the Associates Alberto Colucci and Francesca Coppola for the legal aspects and by the ‘Associate Partner Daria Ferrario for tax aspects.
