Octo Telematics: Montezemolo aims at the crash detectors (MF)
10 Feb 2010
MILAN (AFX) - Which highway traveler in Italy has not heard their information about traffic and road conditions? All regular drivers, but not everyone might know that this information is provided by Octo Telematics, the company that distributes and monitors traffic sensors manufactured by MetaSystem Group in Reggio Emilia.
Well this brand is now for sale and potential buyers are not lacking; beginning with the Fiat and Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and his son Matteo, promoters of Montezemolo & Partners (PGHN.SW - news) sgr, the company that serves as advisor for the Charme family fund.
According to an MF article, the founders of MetaSystem, Francesco and Germano Fanelli with Giuseppe Simonazzi, have decided to sell a majority stake in the subsidiary and have sought the advice of Rothschild and Imi Bank, and A.T. Kearney and PwC consultants, and legal advice from Chiomenti.
As reported by MF -- Milano Finanza, Charme, supported by KPMG and the law firm of Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, studied the dossier and has recently made a non- binding offer considering Octo Telematics valuation of 160 million euro. Octo in late 2008 had a bank debt of 27.4 million compared with revenues of 34 million, EBITDA of 20 million and a profit of 2.4 million, the main finance institutes SocGen (Paris: FR0000130809 - news), Calyon, Unipol (Milan: UNI.MI - news), Intesa Sanpaolo (Milan: ISP.MI - news) and UniCredit (Milan: UCG.MI - news), have already made contact with the management of Charme that can count on an availability of 304 million of the Charme endowment fund.
Links