Cassiopea Partners, jointly with Jefferies, acted as financial advisor to Fine PCB S.p.A. (together with its subsidiaries “Somacis” or the “Group”) and its shareholders, including Green Arrow Private Equity Fund 3 (“Green Arrow”), on the sale to Chequers Capital via Chequers Capital XVII FPCI fund (“Chequers Capital”).
Founded in 1972 and headquartered in Castelfidardo (Ancona, Italy), Somacis is a leading international player in the design and manufacturing of highly engineered Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), targeting advanced technological applications across several end markets including Aerospace & Defense, Telecom Infrastructure, Industrials, IT, Automotive/EV and Medical Devices.
The Group boasts a synergetic global production footprint with five manufacturing facilities across Italy (Castelfidardo, Manfredonia), UK (Devon), US (Poway, CA), and China (Dongguan). Somacis leverages on an integrated business model strategically designed to position itself as a worldwide one-stop-shop platform matching its global customers’ highest standards in terms of technology, quality and service.
Somacis stands out in the PCB market globally thanks to its full control of the value chain having internalized all key phases including design, engineering, prototyping, and production, and being able to provide best-in-class complex components to more than 600 clients with tight and ever evolving time, reliability and quality requirements. In 2021, the Group reported c. €144m in sales.
In the context of the transaction, the management team of the Group acquired a minority stake.
Giovanni Tridenti, the Group CEO, has commented: “We are very thankful to Green Arrow for having supported us over the last years and taken us to this incredible milestone. We are extremely delighted today to welcome Chequers Capital and to partner-up with them for the next stage of growth by leveraging their skills, experience and international exposure”.
Eugenio de Blasio, Chairman and CEO of Green Arrow Capital, together with co-founder and CIO Daniele Camponeschi, have commented: “This transaction marks the second and successful exit of Green Arrow Private Equity Fund 3 and we are very proud of Somacis Graphic growth path achieved during our tenure. Green Arrow Capital contributed significant resources to execute a strategic acquisition and to upgrade its manufacturing capabilities and are delighted at the growth achieved across geographies as a result. We believe that together with the management team we built a solid foundation on which Chequers Capital will be able to further grow and consolidate the Group leading position in its market”.
This transaction further demonstrates Cassiopea Partners’ ability to successfully manage and close complex sell-side assignments in the technology space.
Advisors:
In addition to Cassiopea Partners and Jefferies, Green Arrow and Somacis’s minority shareholders were assisted in the context of the transaction by: PwC (financial and tax due diligence), Goetzpartners (strategic due diligence), Chiomenti and Ecovis STLex (legal advisors).
