Laminam acquired by Alpha Private Equity Fund 7

A few months after selling 60% of System’s ceramic business to Coesia through the new company System Ceramics, Franco Stefani has also sold Laminam, the company set up in 2001 and now the global market leader in the field of large ceramic surfaces. The purchaser is Alpha Private Equity Fund 7, which on 23 April signed an agreement to acquire control of Laminam SpA (and its subsidiaries Laminam Rus, Laminam USA Inc., Laminam China and Laminam Service) from the Stefani family and Alberto Selmi.

Franco Stefani

This operation reflects Stefani’s desire to ensure the continuity of the companies he founded. “As I have stated repeatedly, my primary commitment is to guarantee the continuity of local manufacturing excellence in order to strengthen our leadership in the world market and create jobs,” Stefani said. “Following a careful analysis, we realised that Alpha was the right purchaser due to its international experience.”

Alpha is a private equity group with a 2-billion-euro portfolio specialising in mid-cap operations in continental Europe. As part of the operation, which is expected to close before the summer break, CEO Alberto Selmi will further increase his stake in the group and will continue to lead Laminam together with the management team.

Alberto Selmi

“As ever, our goal is to be the global brand leader in the production of large ceramic surfaces and to exploit all the opportunities offered by this new market,” said Selmi, who also thanked Franco Stefani “for having invented an innovative technology that together we have transformed into a new product category”.

Thanks to the foresight of its founder, Laminam was the first company to introduction an industrial-scale production process for large ceramic surfaces, adopting globally unique cutting-edge technologies that allow ceramics to enter unconventional fields of application. The company now has a leading market position after posting excellent results in recent years, including consolidated revenue of around 110 million euros in 2018 (up 29% on 2017) and an EBITDA of approximately 26 million euros.

Edoardo Lanzavecchia, managing partner of Alpha, likewise expressed his satisfaction with the acquisition. “Alpha will work alongside Alberto Selmi and the entire team to give a further boost to Laminam’s international development while continuing to leverage the technological advantage and innovative content of its surfaces,” he said.