Private Debt Award 2021 AIFI Deloitte

Equita, the leading independent investment bank in Italy, is proud to announce that its private debt team won the 2021 edition of the AIFI and Deloitte’s Private Debt Award. The award, this year to its fourth edition, aims to increase awareness of private debt as a crucial asset to support development and growth of small-medium enterprises in Italy.

Thanks to its investment in Crippa, Equita was ranked first in the “Closed transactions – Leveraged buyout / Extraordinary transactions” category.

Paolo Pendenza, Head of Private Debt at Equita Capital SGR, commented: “This important award comes right after the recent closing of a new fundraising phase of Equita Private Debt Fund II, our second private debt fund. The team won for the second year in a row the LBO category. This time, two investments were shortlisted by the jury as finalists: Crippa and Tecnopool, winner and runner-up respectively. We are so proud of the team. This shows our ability to identify successful investments, while also assisting small and medium-sized private companies and sponsors”.

In June 2020, the private debt team invested, with a mix of subordinated debt and equity, Euro 13.5 million to finance the acquisition of Crippa – a leading player in the production of fully automated, full-electric machines for bending and working metal tubes for the automotive, naval, aerospace and furniture sectors – by a group of investors led by Astraco.

The winners were selected among 18 investments submitted by 11 private debt funds and 2 distressed debt funds. The jury was chaired by Innocenzo Cipolletta (chairman, AIFI) and composed of Luigi Abete (chairman, FeBAF), Andrea Azzolini (manager debt advisory, Deloitte), Guido Corbetta (professor of management and technology, Bocconi), Marco Ferrando (editor in chief of Finanza & Mercati - Il Sole 24ORE), Giancarlo Giudici (associate professor of corporate finance, School of Management Politecnico Milano), Sergio Luciano (editor in chief, Economy), Giovanni Maggi (chairman, Assofondipensione), Luca Manzoni (manager corporate banking, Banco BPM), Emanuele Orsini (vice chairman, Confindustria), Federico Visconti (dean, Università Carlo Cattaneo – LIUC) and Dario Voltattorni (secretary general, Confindustria Lombardia).

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