Cassiopea Partners acted as sole financial advisor to Bregal Unternehmerkapital (“BU”) in the acquisition of a majority stake in Safety21 S.p.A. (“Safety21” or the “Company”), a leading Italian software provider in the Smart Road and Smart City space.
Founded in 2011 by Gianluca Longo, who remains CEO of the Company upon completion of the transaction, Safety21 provides public entities with end-to-end traffic monitoring software solutions based on the proprietary IoT cloud platform TITAN. The system manages large amounts of data on a daily basis, used to monitor and manage road safety, traffic control and CO2 reduction, and allows municipalities to implement a policy strongly oriented towards Smart Mobility. Safety21 monitors over 200 million transits and offers fully automated and technology-enabled services to more than 300 public entities, making it the market leader in Italy.
The transaction aims to strengthen the Company’s leadership position in Italy while supporting its international expansion plans. This will be achieved by leveraging the Company’s innovative technological platform and scalable model of sustainable mobility. Substantial growth is projected as part of the plan, which will be achieved in part through inorganic growth, with a view to expand Safety21’s range of innovative services and position the Company competitively in the Smart City space.
Thanks to Safety21’s solid growth prospects, the previous shareholders reinvested in the transaction with a minority stake. Minority shareholders include HAT Sgr, reinvesting through HAT Technology & Innovation, alongside important Italian and European family offices as well as the founder Gianluca Longo.
Gianluca Longo, CEO and founder of Safety21, stated: “We are proud that a large European private equity player has chosen Safety21 for its first investment in Italy. In these 10 years of work since inception, Safety21’s technology and business model have enjoyed a remarkable evolution and success in the market, and now thanks to BU we have a chance to expand abroad, replicating the Italian model. Today, road safety combined with the pressing need for Smart Mobility and the reduction of emissions is a fundamental development pillar for any community.”
Valentina Pippolo, Partner and Country Head Italy of BU, commented: “We believe Safety21 is a champion in its industry, which is why we decided to support Gianluca Longo in the development of the Company’s success through both organic and inorganic growth. The Company has recorded impressive growth over the last years, taking advantage of the Smart City and Smart Mobility trend. We intend to further develop and support the Company in order to make it a best practice example of sustainable mobility and the undisputed market leader. With this investment we want to contribute to the digitalisation process of the Public Administration for a faster and more efficient management of mobility, confirming our commitment to support companies with a strong ESG focus”
Stefano Trentino, Founding Partner of Cassiopea Partners: “We are very proud of having assisted BU in its first transaction in the Italian market. This deal further underscores our track record in enabling pre-emptive transactions for primary Private Equity firms on trophy assets.”
Alongside Cassiopea Partners, BU was assisted by Essentia Advisory as debt advisor, Latham & Watkins as legal advisor, Deloitte as accounting advisor, BCG as business advisor and Bonelli Erede as structuring advisor.
