DK is selling Prelios to ION Group
Two sources said the price will be 1.35 billion euros
Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, a global investment management firm, announces the signing of a binding agreement with X3 Group , a subsidiary of ION, for the sale of Prelios S.p.A. The completion of the transaction is subject to the authorization of the relevant authorities.
Established in 1990 in Milan, Italy, Prelios is an Italian leading alternative asset management, servicing and specialized property services with more than €40bn of assets under management across non-performing loans, unlikely-to-pay exposures and real estate funds.
Since investment funds advised by Davidson Kempner acquired the business in 2018, Prelios has been able to grow its revenue from €100m to over €300m while significantly improving profitability.
DK, which did not disclose the sale price, had been looking for a buyer for years, and held discussions for several months with ION. Dublin-based ION Group was in turn in talks with banks for months to secure funding for the deal which two sources said valued the Italian credit manager at 1.35 billion euros ($1.5 billion)
Unicredit, Intesa Sanpaolo and BNP Paribas led the consortium of banks, also including Banco BPM, Standard Chartered Bank and Mediobanca, that are providing financing to X3 for the transaction. BNP Paribas and Mediobanca acted as financial advisors to X3. Milbank provided legal advice for the financing to X3 and Latham & Watkins advised the lenders.
Goldman Sachs International acted as financial advisor and Linklaters LLP provided legal advice to Davidson Kempner. Lazard acted as financing advisor to Prelios. The law firm Russo De Rosa Associati acted as tax and legal advisors for the management. UBS acted as financial advisor, Gattai, Minoli, Partners and Chiomenti provided legal advice, Facchini Rossi Michelutti provided tax advice to ION.
Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP is a global investment management firm with over 40 years of experience and a focus on fundamental investing with a multi-strategy approach. Davidson Kempner has more than $37 billion in assets under management and over 500 employees across seven offices: New York, Philadelphia, London, Dublin, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Mumbai. Additional information is available at: www.davidsonkempner.com.
Prelios is a leading, vertically integrated Italian player offering a one-stop shop for investors and banks in alternative asset management and high value-added services across the real estate and credit value chains. It is the biggest private player in the unlikely-to-pay segment leveraging on its first mover advantage and highly innovative DNA, long-term partnerships with the two leading Italian banks and sizeable management structure in the market, while also leading in the non-performing loans servicing segment. Additional information is available at: https://prelios.com
ION is a permanent capital investment holding company focused on software and data to digitize and automate mission-critical workflows. Additional information is available at: https://iongroup.com/
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Relevant Links:
https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/davidson-kempner-capital-management-announces-the-signing-for-the-sale-of-prelios-spa-301898612.html
https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/ion-seals-acquisition-italys-prelios-davidson-kempner-estimated-15-bln-deal-2023-08-11/
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