Tages, the €47bn alternative investment group, today announced an agree-ment with VAM Investments, a private equity investment holding company specialising in growth capital and buyouts. This strategic partnership marks Tages’ entry into the private equity sector as it continues to grow its business lines across alternative asset classes.
Under the agreement, Tages will acquire an initial 34% of VAM Investments, and a direct investment by Mr. Trapani will take a stake of 15%. Mr. Trapani, a shareholder of Tages since the beginning of 2017, Deputy Chairman and member of the Board of Directors, will be appointed Executive Chairman of VAM Investments Group Spa. Marco Piana, founder of VAM Investments, will remain Chief Executive Officer.
The agreement also provides the possibility of further integration in the next three years that will allow Tages to increase its stake up to 100% of VAM Investments, and for the current shareholders and Managing Part-ners of VAM, Marco Piana and Giuliano Palazzo, to become shareholders of Tages.
As a result of the partnership, VAM will be able to increase the scale of its private equity operations and will benefit from synergies with Tages’ broader alternative asset management presence in Europe. VAM will also be able to strengthen its activities with the appointment of Mr. Trapani, by leveraging his extensive operational experience in private equity and his knowledge of the brand and consumer sectors.
The transaction allows Tages to further diversify its offering by adding private equity as the firm’s fourth line of business. It complements Tages’ existing businesses across liquid alternatives (hedge funds and UCITS), infrastructure investments and distressed credit through its ownership of Credito Fondiario.
“Francesco joined us at the beginning of last year to help expand our group into the private equity market. The partnership with VAM is a natural evolution of this strategy and enables us to offer Italian companies new opportunities in the private equity space. We continue to believe that alternative investments will be a long-term growth sector and that providing stable, institutional capital is the best way to build a diversified business” says Panfilo Tarantelli, Founding Partner and CEO of Tages.
“This partnership has created the opportunity to enter into a very exciting sector. Italy is rich in healthy small and mid-sized companies with great potential, that need support to grow and expand, including into interna-tional markets. We look forward to providing these entrepreneurs and business owners with the tools they need to succeed further,” adds Francesco Trapani, Executive Vice President of Tages.
“The strategic agreement signed today represents a new stage of growth for VAM. It significantly strengthens our capabilities with the combined experience of both Francesco and the partners at Tages, as well as the access gained to Tages’ network of institutional investors. We are eager to start working together on the investment pipeline currently under consideration,” comments Marco Piana, Founder and Managing Part-ner of VAM Investments.
The acquisition was completed with the advisory services of the law firms Gattai Minoli Agostinelli & Partners and DWF.