Doughty Hanson takes stake in Trento-based Zobele group

31 October 2006

London. On 17 October 2006 an agreement was signed between the Zobele family and private equity firm Doughty Hanson for the UK fund to take a 70% stake in the share capital of the Trento-based Zobele group, world leader in the manufacture of air fresheners, insecticides and other homecare products. The partnership as thus constituted fits with the strategy pursued by the group for several years now. Having built up an order book through organic growth and acquisitions that features international clients including some of the world’s leading large-consumption operators, the Group has developed a global production platform with facilities located in China, Mexico, Spain, Brazil and India to complement the main base at Trento, where management and co-ordination activities are still concentrated. Such growth and globalization has led to an increasingly managerial culture in terms of the company’s operations where outside specialists work alongside the founding family. Accordingly, to enable outside investment in the company’s share capital is a natural step in the direction already taken by the company, and represents a basis for the company to progress to the next level. Doughty Hanson is one of the most important independent private equity funds in Europe, and has an acknowledged track record in investing in family-owned companies. The Zobele group will thus have access to the fund’s significant network of international relations, which will enable it to support the development of its business, with the main objective being to achieve listed status within the space of a few years. The group will continue to be run from its operations base in Trento by Enrico Zobele, cavaliere del lavoro, who shall be company chairman, along with other family members and the existing management team, who will be asked to join the fund and the family in participating in the company’s share capital. The deal should be formalized, subject to the relevant antitrust clearances, by the end of December. Mediobanca acted as financial advisor and Chiomenti Studio Legale and Shearman & Sterling as legal advisors to the Zobele family on this transaction.