Infrastructure deal would mark Europe’s biggest ever take-private transaction
Blackstone and the billionaire family behind Italian fashion brand Benetton have made a takeover bid for Italian infrastructure group Atlantia that values the toll road operator at about €54bn.
The €23-a-share offer would mark the largest ever take-private deal for a European listed company, and would end a turbulent period for Atlantia’s investors during which the coronavirus pandemic and the fatal collapse in 2018 of the Morandi bridge in Genoa have buffeted shares.
It would mark Europe’s largest private equity-backed deal on record, according to data provider Refinitiv, topping a €21bn offer for Blackstone’s European warehouse portfolio Mileway and KKR’s £11.1bn acquisition of chemist chain Boots in 2007.
The bid values the company’s equity at about €19bn. It had €35.3bn of net debt as of December 31, taking its enterprise value to €54.3bn, though the debt is likely to fall once the Aspi sale is completed.
Read more: FT
